Dead Island

 PC
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1659 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 816 out of 1659
  2. Mixed: 578 out of 1659
  3. Negative: 265 out of 1659
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  1. GLaDOS
    Sep 18, 2011
    6
    In a nutshell: It's entertaining, gory, and addictive.
    Aside from that, it's hit-and-miss. The story-line is (quite frankly) missing almost entirely. This isn't the first game to put you in a quarantined area with unexplained zombies, give you a weapon and say "go to town," but aside from gathering supplies, you're never really given a reason for having to move from survivor camp to camp.    In a nutshell: It's entertaining, gory, and addictive.
    Aside from that, it's hit-and-miss. The story-line is (quite frankly) missing almost entirely. This isn't the first game to put you in a quarantined area with unexplained zombies, give you a weapon and say "go to town," but aside from gathering supplies, you're never really given a reason for having to move from survivor camp to camp. If the summary is true, and you're trying to find a missing wife, then I apparently wasn't paying attention at all during the introduction, because I have no idea what that's referencing. This game has many bugs, and they can be crippling. Running V1.2, some of the bugs I've encountered include:
    1) I occasionally have to toggle between full screen and windowed and back to re-enable the sprint feature, which is crippling (It took me awhile to figure out something was definitely amiss)
    2) I lost a very powerful weapon into thin air after I had just spent a couple thousand repairing and upgrading it, which isn't crippling, but just plain disappointing
    3) A horrible, HORRIBLE UI port from what was PLAINLY a console menu to the PC. The mouse is incredibly slow on the menus, everything has to be clicked on because the arrows are very clunky, and some options are simply grayed out for no reason (usually because you have to have an Xbox 360 controller plugged in)
    4) Weapons on your "quick select" menu tend to be replaced by whatever you pick up off the ground, with the most popular being alcohol. This tends to result in irritation if you notice it in time, or at the worst, you find yourself charging into a fight and then quickly downing a bottle of Jack instead of slashing a weapon. Definitely not a fun brawl.
    This game is still fun, and definitely worth a rent for its sandbox environment, collectibles, upgrade and deterioration systems, weapon modifications, and the intense firefights (when you face human enemies). The zombie slaying doesn't really get stale, but it does lessen in excitement from the beginning of the game. As of where I am right now, I have seen about 5 different classes of zombies, and each definitely had their own unique attacks and corresponding player strategies I needed to use. A good rent (assuming you stick with the PC version, Xbox version might be better).    … Expand
  2. tyrannis
    Sep 6, 2011
    7
    Like most people Dead Island's trailer pulled me in. From there i was excited, and decided to pre-order on steam. The night game goes live i let it run the opening day patch and than try to play. That is where i encountered my first hiccup, the game was incredibly fragmented. I am not sure if its my computer or the files, i have never had this issue before. Once i get in the game there wasLike most people Dead Island's trailer pulled me in. From there i was excited, and decided to pre-order on steam. The night game goes live i let it run the opening day patch and than try to play. That is where i encountered my first hiccup, the game was incredibly fragmented. I am not sure if its my computer or the files, i have never had this issue before. Once i get in the game there was some issues changing my graphic settings and such.. than i start playing. It was an amazing amount of fun, really engrossing, just a flat out great time. Yes there was the clipping issues i noticed a few times. Than all of a sudden when im driving around my game just crashes, and the night goes downhill from there.

    Game Receives a 7.. and i feel i am being incredibly generous there. It is an amazing amount of fun but they release a game that to say its buggy really understates the point. Friday they are suppose to release a patch, so wait till after Friday to pick up your copy.    … Expand
  3. drSpockwa
    Aug 17, 2012
    6
    I love zombie games. There is something fun about fighting against zombies that is better than fighting people. They're scary, they leap at you, they are gory, they don't have guns, they're usually slow and they make noise to announce their position.
    This game is an excellent zombie game. The graphics are beautiful, and the story is great. It's an open world island with fast travel    I love zombie games. There is something fun about fighting against zombies that is better than fighting people. They're scary, they leap at you, they are gory, they don't have guns, they're usually slow and they make noise to announce their position.
    This game is an excellent zombie game. The graphics are beautiful, and the story is great. It's an open world island with fast travel points, quests, driving vehicles, lots of weapons (melee blunt & sharp, firearms) and a neat weapon upgrade/mod system.
    I haven't tried the multi-player yet, but it got good reviews as well.
    I had to give this a lower review though because it's got some horrible bugs that don't appear to be going to get fixed. Most notably, when you exit the menu from inventory/quests/skills, if you click the back/exit button it performs an attack (I guess since left click is also the attack). Well, this seriously sucks if you are holding a grenade (i.e. you just made one at the mod/upgrade bench) cuz you end up tossing a grenade against a wall 2 feet in front of you, and dying. Workaround: press escape instead of clicking. Another annoyance is the randomness of picking up new items. Sometimes they bump the current item out of your hand into your inventory. Most annoyingly - when you pick up alcohol (quest/mod component) sometimes it replaces your weapon and when a zombie charges you, you end up drinking it and getting drunk instead of chopping a zombie. Being drunk makes it hard to fight cuz you are wobbly and your vision is fuzzy.
    I assume these issues are due to a poor port from console to PC so things probably are better on consoles.
    All in all, if you like zombie games, you'll appreciate this one. You just have to train yourself to work around the issues.    … Expand
  4. Cyntax3rr0r
    May 22, 2012
    5
    I really wanted to love this game. However, to be honest, I'm surprised it has such a high Metacritic score. The graphics are nice and the combat is standard. After the L4D games you really need to bring something unique to the table to set yourself apart. This game tried but the gameplay mechanics didn't lend itself to the campaign.

    This was the buggiest game I had ever purchased from    I really wanted to love this game. However, to be honest, I'm surprised it has such a high Metacritic score. The graphics are nice and the combat is standard. After the L4D games you really need to bring something unique to the table to set yourself apart. This game tried but the gameplay mechanics didn't lend itself to the campaign.

    This was the buggiest game I had ever purchased from Steam day one. Connection issues to host or join in a game with my friends. No excuse to release this half cooked. Maybe spend less time on your ad cinematics and more time polishing the game?

    I understand it was trying to be a zombie survivor RPG, a novel concept, they just fell short. Weapons constantly breaking and needing repair would slow down progression through the story. You need to amass a fortune, find a plethora of weapons lying around on a resort island, and MacGyver recipies is silly. The quests are tired and absurd. "The chosen one" storyline is used more than...just play L4D.    … Expand
  5. jim109109
    May 28, 2012
    5
    As a console game it's alright, shallow, lacking in features, repetitive gameplay. Great graphics and immersion. As a movie or something to watch it's not bad (apart from the horrible story). As a game experience, it's not great.

    I just feel like a retard killing zombies the same way, over and over, for hours. The game never changes and is extremely repetitive. Hardcore RPG gamers, stay    As a console game it's alright, shallow, lacking in features, repetitive gameplay. Great graphics and immersion. As a movie or something to watch it's not bad (apart from the horrible story). As a game experience, it's not great.

    I just feel like a retard killing zombies the same way, over and over, for hours. The game never changes and is extremely repetitive. Hardcore RPG gamers, stay off of this, you won't experience anything new or satisfying. Casual console gamers, have a blast! Enjoy the brainless fun.

    Graphics: 7/10
    Gameplay: 5/10
    Story: 3/10
    Sound: 3/10

    Rating: 5/10 [Mediocre]    … Expand
  6. zaninif
    Nov 26, 2011
    6
    First off, full system disclosure: I have an i7-2600, 8GB RAM, Win7-64, Creative SB X-Fi Titanium and GTX-580 with 1.5GB VRAM. One would think that this should suffice to play this game as the recommended system requirements are Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Win7, GeForce 9600 with 1 GB VRAM. However, the game stutters all the time even when I change the graphic settings to the "MaximumFirst off, full system disclosure: I have an i7-2600, 8GB RAM, Win7-64, Creative SB X-Fi Titanium and GTX-580 with 1.5GB VRAM. One would think that this should suffice to play this game as the recommended system requirements are Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Win7, GeForce 9600 with 1 GB VRAM. However, the game stutters all the time even when I change the graphic settings to the "Maximum Performance" preset. I had to install a third-party helper (i.e., EXE file) to tweak the graphic settings in order to make the game stutter-free. This was not a successful port to PC as the code was not optimized for PC and the graphics look dated (circa 2007). The good news is that the gameplay can be fun at times. A word to the wise: don't pay more than 20 bucks for this game: at the current state, it's just not worth it… Expand
  7. scott_wa
    Sep 25, 2011
    5
    Techland's quality control standards are the reason why Dead Island isn't a "great game". The whole thing felt rushed, incomplete and unpolished. From glitches to stereotypical characters (that you never develop empathy for) Dead Island and it's story fall very short from the game it could have been. Maybe next time.
  8. namDa65
    Feb 5, 2012
    6
    Very bland, feels like an mmo without the mmo. The combat is ok, and it is much better in co-op, however there is zero to absolutely little story. Lots of typical fetch and collect quest abound.
  9. YodaOne
    Oct 29, 2012
    5
    After ten hours of Dead Island, I'm losing interest.
    Too much scrounging, searching, sneaking, retreating, and repairing.
    I thought it was kinda cool to have a mission-based game in a zombie setting. It is cool that you can upgrade weapons several times. What's killing my interest is the nagging weapon maintenance. The wear is remotely believable for the wooden weapons. But something    After ten hours of Dead Island, I'm losing interest.
    Too much scrounging, searching, sneaking, retreating, and repairing.
    I thought it was kinda cool to have a mission-based game in a zombie setting. It is cool that you can upgrade weapons several times.
    What's killing my interest is the nagging weapon maintenance. The wear is remotely believable for the wooden weapons. But something like a heavy pipe wrench or a crowbar would "in reality" split a thousand zombie skulls with at most cosmetic damage to the weapon itself. It gets old gathering money constantly and delaying quests with trips to a repair bench. How does a workbench take money, anyway? If Dead Island didn't have this weapon maintenance aspect, I'd give it a 7.
    Throw in healing, or maybe less damage from zombie punches, and I might say 8.    … Expand
  10. SQG_Slasher
    Jul 9, 2014
    7
    Sure, it has some bugs here and there, but this is only a minority of a well-rounded game. The story is a little boring at times, but the game compensates for this by allowing you to leave the story altogether and focus your sick mind on forging together weapons of much carnage. Not one of the best zombie games, but it is good.
  11. SPARTACVS
    Jun 5, 2016
    6
    Unimpressed. The game has a good potential but its is flawed by drawbacks. They are all pretty much minors but I found there is too many. To the point that I found the game to be too much balanced between enjoyment and...frustration. I hesitated to give it a 7 btw.
  12. vahn
    Aug 22, 2012
    6
    I got this game on discount and I got interested in this game for a while. I installed it and finally started the game...and now after 20 hours and more of gaming, I really notice why this game wasn't all that greatness they mentioned in the past. The best way to describe this game is that it's a hybrid between Skyrim/Oblibion and Borderlands, even though it doesn't completely work at itsI got this game on discount and I got interested in this game for a while. I installed it and finally started the game...and now after 20 hours and more of gaming, I really notice why this game wasn't all that greatness they mentioned in the past. The best way to describe this game is that it's a hybrid between Skyrim/Oblibion and Borderlands, even though it doesn't completely work at its finest. However there are positive things: I actually like the fact that you're a survivor against a zombie infection and the fact that you're basically stuck on a island and you have to kill any zombie you cross even though the scare factor completely dies because this island is never in the dark and the zombies never stop coming, meaning that you won't have any growing tension or unexpected meeting. The 4 characters aren't extremely different with the exception of their main weapon skills (blunt weapons,blades, thrown weapons and guns) but they differ enough to be interesting to play all of them. There's also a story but I hardly followed because I was focusing on the game itself and the quests (like in any WRPG). The island isn't "huge" but it's big enough that you'll take some time to explore it all, especially when you need to find materials for making your modified weapon, which is a nice addition...but it's extremely hard to make those weapons. However, I do have 3 big complaints in this game and, to me, they are BIG flaws that ruins my game. A lot. First of all, the controls are clunky...I understand they tried to make this as much realistic as possible but I'm pretty sure I can move and walk AND fight better than them! The combat for instance is very harsh because you don't have a huge range, understandable since your main weapons are melee weapons, but you don't feel in control of your swings and you can easily miss zombies because of the slow pace the characters have! Without mentioning that you can't parry (at least I never could, if there is one) and your dodge is hard to use and has a really weak range...plus it's useless since you need to be in melee range ALL the time and you'll only use it once in a while to avoid sudden attacks from the zombies. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but the controls aren't my favorite part here. And no, I can't try analog controls, so I can't say if that's good or not. Second: your energy never recovers in time....really? I don't get why I don't recover my health, especially when they just hit me with fists! Yes there are some zombies that hit with weapons and you'll sometime fight men with guns, but this is still a big problem because the zombies HIT HARD! I've died a lot of time because they can easily 3-4 shot me, and add the fact that you're always in numerical disadvantage, you cannot parry and dodge sometimes it's useless since some zombies can run faster than you you can see big problems on the way The only way to recover health is to eat and drink food or use first aid kits, which are rare to find but luckily not costy to buy, but I don't get why our energy never gets back with just resting or waiting (and no, it's not because we're infected): it basically says "gunshots can be easily recovered with few seconds of resting (the general fps idea), but fists? They hurt you more, so you need a lot of cheap food to recover!". I don't know, maybe I'm taking it too seriously. And third: the game seems a lot short: I've played for almost 23 hours and I'm at 70% of the game...and I've done PLENTY of quests, so that means that the game itself it's even shorter! Of course the game will be longer if you manage to do all the quests and the problems I've mentioned will disappear if you play in co-op, which is very well implemented, without mentioning that it makes the game a lot longer too, but even Borderlands had a longer main quest! It's still longer than the average game but my guess is that if you want to make it last long, you have to do quests or else it won't last very much, which is a pity. I liked the game though but It's not the best I've seen: it looks like an attempt to copy both Borderlands questing system and Oblivion combat, but making one weird hybrid that doesn't really shine in either side...so my advice is to stick with either those 2 games (which are ten times bigger also) or you can give this game a try if you want to play something different...… Expand
  13. Socializt
    Sep 8, 2011
    7
    Alright, this is gonna be a long one. All in all, this is a fun game. I'm gonna give a LOT of negatives and few positives, but the positives I give are really big, and the negatives are very minor. So while at first glance this is gonna look like a hate speech, in the end, I do enjoy this game. Before I start off I'm just gonna say - this is a long review. to sum it up - Combat is great,Alright, this is gonna be a long one. All in all, this is a fun game. I'm gonna give a LOT of negatives and few positives, but the positives I give are really big, and the negatives are very minor. So while at first glance this is gonna look like a hate speech, in the end, I do enjoy this game. Before I start off I'm just gonna say - this is a long review. to sum it up - Combat is great, tons of minor things that will annoy the hell out of you if you're half as nuts as I am. If you want more examples, then let's get started.
    Positives: The combat in this game is downright fantastic. I love it. every weapon has an individual feel but they all feel weighted and realistic. when I smash a zombie with my oar or stab it with a kitchen knife, it feels like an actual weapon. the graphics for combat are much better than the graphics for everything else, and the engine really shines when the player cuts a limb off. (excuse the graphic details-who am I kidding, you guys are here for a zombie killing game). I feel compelled to play the game simply so I can kill some more zombies. Another large positive is the world. It feels alive and dynamic, in that there's places you can go that have their own minor stories that aren't (so far) connected with anything regarding the plot and are just put in to give the world flavor - coming upon a room with a zombie tied to a bed and a dead man next to the struggling zombie comes to mind, for example. People (most, anyway) react realistically for an apocalypse, and the large majority of the people in the safe houses are terrified because *guess what*, they're just average people, not everyone is a zombie killer like it feels sometimes in other zombie games. Anyway: The Negatives: This game is ABSURDLY unpolished. Like, really unpolished. I play as a female character, and several conversations have the other person refer to me as a he. Shadows in the game are blocky and odd, and I have all of my settings turned to maximum. There's a certain part in the hotel where I could literally see a dark part of the hallway - it was cut off from the rest of it, there was an actual line of darkness. that's just basic phasing to make the shadow bleed into the rest of the world, a weird graphics problem. Yes I know these are minor gripes, I said in the beginning that most of my negatives are very picky, remember. Another minor gripe - and this one is really pointless. You pay for repairs, which is understandable...but you're paying a repair table. Not a person. What? Like just...where does the money go? Driving in this game also, was designed by a team of people just learning to drive. Because it's very realistic, in that it's the view of being in the car. That's great, until you have to go in reverse and smash the car into the wall behind you. I feel like an imbecile when driving simply because I can't look all the way behind me like I would when *actually driving*. Also the car makes skidding noises....regardless of the speed you're going. Which is weird. Another thing (slightly more important) weapon durability is really, really frustrating. An average weapon breaks in about thirty swings, which is at most ten zombies. Less important - two odd things with the female characters. First, they're all in bikinis. Sure sure, they're on a beach vacation. Fine. Five hours into an apocalypse and they can't grab a shirt from somewhere or something? Seriously. Also, almost every single one of the female avatars have an mp3 player on their arm. Random I know, but it freakin' weirds me out. Another thing: Voice acting. Terrible. Also it seems like it's on a different audio channel from everything else, when I say yes or no to a quest. Strange. So yes, my negatives section was much much larger than my positives, but the positives were much more important than the negatives. In the end, I suggest one of two things: If this game sounds like the perfect match for you, get it. GET IT RIGHT NOW. Otherwise, wait a few months for the price to drop a bit - I definitely suggest anyone who loves zombie games to get this, but unless you reaaally hate zombies, you may want to wait for the price tag to drop. If you do buy it, good luck killing the infected, and maybe I'll see you guys in game. Cheers =]    … Expand
  14. Chaziltasm
    Apr 14, 2012
    5
    A game that could so desperately be so beautiful, but fails at so many turns. The trailer that got everyone talking was the teaser trailer containing a slow motion emotional trailer, of a family stuck on an island in a hotel, infested with zombies. This emotional trailer suggested that the game could be about the back story to these people, and how there lives met such a tragic end.A game that could so desperately be so beautiful, but fails at so many turns. The trailer that got everyone talking was the teaser trailer containing a slow motion emotional trailer, of a family stuck on an island in a hotel, infested with zombies. This emotional trailer suggested that the game could be about the back story to these people, and how there lives met such a tragic end. However, the characters in the main game itself have absolutely nothing to do with the actual game, the game opens with a mediocre rap song about zombies, before you are introduced to the shallow and stereotypical characters in the game. The combat is slow and slightly dodgy, and "The Infected" run at you so fast, unless you can kick like a donkey you are screwed. This game is Left For Dead, meets Borderlands, except a version where everything went wrong. It tried to be original but ended up being a shallow and unimaginative game that leaves you unsatisfied. Don't even get me started on the weapon combat system either. There are so many problems that the only thing that I enjoyed, are the beautiful graphics, and driving around the island running over zombies. Don't play it on your own, it's pointless, having a friend makes all the difference in the world. Over all a bland game that did not seem worth splashing out money for.… Expand
  15. Psy_pmP
    Oct 5, 2011
    6
    - many,many Bugs, perpetual respawn NPC is too close to player (It is a lot of places where npc eternally respawn near to the player ), dizbalans, booring missions.

    + open world, action rpg It could be a great game...
  16. Swadhams
    Oct 12, 2011
    6
    I got this game looking for a button-mashing, mindless fun, weekend of zombie killing and that is what i got and i have barley touched it since. It suffers from several graphical glitches and a lack-luster story. Towards the end of the game it starts to feel tedious as you are required to run from point A to point B and then back again.
    In summary if you spare cash and time to kill i would    I got this game looking for a button-mashing, mindless fun, weekend of zombie killing and that is what i got and i have barley touched it since. It suffers from several graphical glitches and a lack-luster story. Towards the end of the game it starts to feel tedious as you are required to run from point A to point B and then back again.
    In summary if you spare cash and time to kill i would recommend it especially if you have friends who want to play the co-op with you, but don't expect this to win Game of the Year.    … Expand
  17. Bedlam
    Oct 26, 2011
    6
    It has a neat system for assembling custom weapons, and a large environment to explore. Truly a gritty and gory melee game. However the storyline is rather drab with highly predictable quests. It has a terribly clunky interface. Developers need to stop releasing games with so many bugs, then working on a fix. I don't pay $60 to beta test bugs.
  18. squidgee
    Aug 5, 2012
    6
    Dead Island was heavily flawed on release with game breaking technical issues and though I managed to fix these afterwards, I still wasn't impressed with the game. Although I was entertained for the most part on my first playthrough, the game was littered with bugs and glitches that proved annoying and I felt the story wasn't very engaging either.
  19. Minsk
    Jul 20, 2012
    6
    Not half bad for a zombie game. It tends to get a little repetitive and at some points I found myself getting irritated and running through certain areas without attacking a single zombie. The story is a little generic but that doesn't take the fun out of slicing a zombie's head off with a machete. The stamina system works well but also gets a little irritating when fighting off a goodNot half bad for a zombie game. It tends to get a little repetitive and at some points I found myself getting irritated and running through certain areas without attacking a single zombie. The story is a little generic but that doesn't take the fun out of slicing a zombie's head off with a machete. The stamina system works well but also gets a little irritating when fighting off a good amount of zombies. The melee weapons degrade quickly but luckily there are workbenches scattered throughout levels to repair your gear. A pretty solid game with a few glitches. Most of them have been fixed and I haven't run into any game breaking glitches yet. Co-op is fun especially if you have friends to play with. It can get a little challenging with one person.… Expand
  20. TheGamer31
    Nov 20, 2012
    6
    This game is awesome! Although the characters are slightly stereotypical. But you can forgive that with the open world, weapon selection, the physics, and the gore...
  21. Dethstar
    Jul 23, 2012
    6
    I got this game at launch and stumbled through it despite the bugs. Some friends bought it on steam sale recently so I thought I would have another go so we could play it together. New super PC with 12 core (hyperthreaded) intel etc. One of my friends has been unable to play it at all and despite all the many many fixes I tried I am unable to stop the graphics drivers on my machineI got this game at launch and stumbled through it despite the bugs. Some friends bought it on steam sale recently so I thought I would have another go so we could play it together. New super PC with 12 core (hyperthreaded) intel etc. One of my friends has been unable to play it at all and despite all the many many fixes I tried I am unable to stop the graphics drivers on my machine restarting every few minutes. The other guy has performance issues. I tried taking out all GPUs except one in this machine and it runs between 200-300 fps. Trying to lock it to the Vsynch of my monitor at 120fps makes no difference as it does nothing at all. I dont know how I got through it the first time. The gameplay itself is great but this is one of the worst console ports I ever saw. Competes with Rage for the worst all time ports. On the upside, it will run on anything if you can get past the really bad use of PC resources. A great game let down by terrible porting. With a worthy port this would of been one of the few good games to crossover. I am stunned that it seems to be in even worse shape than it was at launch when I first played it with people complaining of new bugs introduced along the way. What a shame. Unless your on an Xbox, dont bother.… Expand
  22. CastleFox
    Jan 9, 2012
    5
    Before you accuse me of just being another hater, know that I REALLY, REALLY wanted to like this game. The entire idea of being stuck on a island when an outbreak happens and trying to get off of it, sounded fun! However, the design was just as dead as the zombies. This game feels like it was designed and developed by a couple of college kids fresh out of programing school with noBefore you accuse me of just being another hater, know that I REALLY, REALLY wanted to like this game. The entire idea of being stuck on a island when an outbreak happens and trying to get off of it, sounded fun! However, the design was just as dead as the zombies. This game feels like it was designed and developed by a couple of college kids fresh out of programing school with no knowledge of good gaming design. Setting aside all the bugs, glitches, and errors this game is filled with, not to mention poor graphics even on the highest setting, this game is just bad. In some areas you can break glass. I've seen better glass and glass breaking visuals from Games created in 1999. The marketing and hype made this game out to be a serious horror zombie game, yet the mission in the game are out of Sesame Street. Example - You are stuck on a zombie infested island fighting for your life and a woman asks you to go find her Teddy Bear. (WTF MOMENT) right there. Another lady asks you to get her necklace. WTF AGAIN. The game starts by giving you no real reason as to how or why you got on the island other than it looks like a Holiday resort. There's no story line between any characters. The game just dumps you onto a sandy beach to start hacking zombies and figure out what the heck you are doing. After hours of playing this game I found myself making comments to myself like "WTF, I'm stuck on this island about to be eaten by zombies and this fool wants me to get him beer?" Or "Gee, that suitcase must have been restocked with cash since the last time I checked it, 10 seconds ago" Or" Wow, everybody in this island keeps cash in suitcases and dressers?"
    Not to mention just about every zombie owns some sort of knife or weapon. I wonder how they got those past TSA. Any interaction you have with characters is an experience you want to just ran away from. Bad choice of voice actors, bad cut scenes and scripting. I could go on and on about the very bad design, programing and graphics, but I think you get the point. This game was released in what seems to be the ALPHA version. To the credit of the creators, the idea was a good one. The zombies AI is good, ability to break arms, legs, or cut them off, and not just hack and slash until they fall is good as well. I'm running this game on a custom system with an intel I-5, Windows 7 64, 16GB or Corsair Ram, the NVidia GTX560 video card, a 1TB system drive, and the graphics still look bad set to full resolution. Sorry guys, I would have turned the game and mission design over to Professionals and let them take your idea and make it great. If you plan another episode of this game, please put your money and effort into the following.
    1: GAME DESIGN
    2. TESTING, TESTING, TESTING.
    3.STORY TELLING. 4.Hire a good copywriter 5.Invest in good audio design and sound effects
    6.Programing
    7.Quality Control 8.Beta Testers    … Expand
  23. Astralis
    Dec 18, 2011
    5
    If you've watched the sublime trailers to this game and want it because of what you saw, then do NOT buy this game. This is because you will end up purchasing a game that has nothing to do with what you saw. This game is simply an arcade button smasher. There is no story, skill or character development that is part of this story. While the trailers alluded to a story with meaning thatIf you've watched the sublime trailers to this game and want it because of what you saw, then do NOT buy this game. This is because you will end up purchasing a game that has nothing to do with what you saw. This game is simply an arcade button smasher. There is no story, skill or character development that is part of this story. While the trailers alluded to a story with meaning that you'll participate in, the game is so divorced from the trailers that it actually has as much meaning as Pac-Man.

    While some may find this game entertaining, you will not find anyone thrilled with it. If you're looking for a button smasher with team-play and no story, stick to Team Fortress 2 -- it's at least free and has higher quality gameplay.

    As for the company that created the trailer (often a different company that produces the game), there are three things:

    1. You should develop games. You clearly understand how to tell a story and the meaning of life. 2. You should be fired. You presented a game that doesn't exist.
    3. The developers who approved these trailers should have stepped back and realized that they do not represent the game whatsoever.

    So this game is a definite miss for me, as much as I really wanted to enjoy it.    … Expand
  24. flashdz1
    Sep 10, 2011
    7
    Good game at best, not great. This is from single player experience and am disregarding bugs for the rating. I give it a 7 tops maybe as low as 6.5 based on the gameplay and story alone amongst other things

    I finish the game. This game is largely melee based with a few gunplay moments Let's talk about the good things first -Lengthy game, can't beat in one day. -Good challenge, sorry no    Good game at best, not great. This is from single player experience and am disregarding bugs for the rating. I give it a 7 tops maybe as low as 6.5 based on the gameplay and story alone amongst other things

    I finish the game. This game is largely melee based with a few gunplay moments

    Let's talk about the good things first
    -Lengthy game, can't beat in one day.
    -Good challenge, sorry no easy mode. I died sometimes during certain main quests
    -The graphics are good, however lacking more advanced graphical options. A bit too much bloom.
    -Good skill tree for each character; helps create a "build"
    -Lots of weapons and mods, some only attainable through sidequests
    -The city and jungle environment looked good, reasonably detailed
    -Driving is fun
    -Combat is good. Can cut off limbs or break limbs, creating a use of strategy when fighting.
    -Always zombies around, endless population
    -Can carry infinite misc items that are not weapons,heath and throwables
    -Never safe, doesn't matter what level you are; if you get swarmed and surrounded you are dead
    -Stamina ensures that most people cannot just run around and spam attacks.
    -Great zombie sounds
    -Weapons durability rate is fine; encourages the use of different weapons

    Now the bad

    I dislike the fading health bar; it's always important to see the health bar because life and death well, depends on health...

    -The story is not exactly compelling. The things you do in an hour before the end of the game was not exciting at all; there is no climax point at all. That's it? Really?

    -The characters are very simple, little to no history. Players don't really get to be immersed in their struggles on the island.

    -Not enough unique zombies, only 5. Most of the time it was just walkers and the raged infected. I like to fight strategically, and I found myself bored before half way of the game. I became very bored of fighting walkers and infected; I started to avoid zombies all together whenever possible. The combat was great but the limited zombie types made it very repetitive.

    -Sidequests have nothing to do with the story and don't reveal anything. Not only that, they are very tedious and boring because it's always fetch X item for Y person. -Auto saves are very bad especially for the quests that involve escorting a person. If the person dies and you choose to load the last save, the zombies come back but your ammo and weapon durability stays the same right before the npc death AND the game AUTOSAVES AGAIN which makes absolutely no sense; If you don't pass the point of struggle, eventually you'll have a "save" where you have no weapons left because they'll all be broken by then. It didn't exactly reload in time, the games just places you back where the "save" location was which was ridiculous. Sometimes I was stuck in a very bad situation which I could not fight through, luckily I made backup saves but I had to play up to the point where I was ruined by the autosave. -The facial animations are poor, little to no expression and sometimes even the wrong expression during cutscenes and conversations. Their eye movement was a little robotic and looked lifeless.

    -Thinking back through my playthrough, there's not too many memorable moments at all. Again, story is weak

    -Main quests are similar to one another, not enough variety

    -This is a preference but the lack of hectic events and the overall intensity of the game was not as high as I expected. No real exciting moment other than the regular uh oh I'm swarmed or oh no here comes the raged infected.

    Side notes:

    The experience may be better when playing online; you'll kill less zombies playing with someone else and less strategy is required. I think I probably would not be bored as fast playing with a friend but now that I beat the game on my own I think I had enough of this game; I can see where people are coming from when they say it is tedious,boring and repetitive because there were times I felt that way. At the same time, near the beginning of the game it was fun and enjoyable. As the game dragged on, I felt it became a chore to continue on. It's a decent game and I may replay again in the future with friends if things get patched up.    … Expand
  25. MikeMaximus
    Sep 11, 2011
    7
    After playing through the whole campaign it's hard not to ignore some of the glaring console port flaws, lack of polish and obvious missed opportunities to make the game so much better. But even so it's still a great game, there hasn't been a zombie survival game like this for a long time that actually creates an environment that can creep you out and scare you a little. The areas areAfter playing through the whole campaign it's hard not to ignore some of the glaring console port flaws, lack of polish and obvious missed opportunities to make the game so much better. But even so it's still a great game, there hasn't been a zombie survival game like this for a long time that actually creates an environment that can creep you out and scare you a little. The areas are well designed, very detailed and fun to explore. The melee combat feels "right" and while firearms take a backseat until late in the game they are fun to use too. It's also a great looking and extremely well performing game if you have the ability to do a few configuration file changes. The co-op mode works great after a few launch jitters, i've never had any crash or even any type of technical hiccup while playing co-op for hours on end. Anyone that enjoys zombie games should check this one out.… Expand
  26. Rime
    Sep 18, 2011
    5
    What is there to say about this game? For the price tag of $50, it is hardly worth it. This game was hastily designed, obviously. It is a decent looking game graphics wise, but it is filled with game ruining bugs. Invincible mobs clipping through walls, my upgraded top tier weapons disappearing into THIN AIR, rooms being literally black. I think they only recently announced the release ofWhat is there to say about this game? For the price tag of $50, it is hardly worth it. This game was hastily designed, obviously. It is a decent looking game graphics wise, but it is filled with game ruining bugs. Invincible mobs clipping through walls, my upgraded top tier weapons disappearing into THIN AIR, rooms being literally black. I think they only recently announced the release of this game, it wasn't in development for very long (AND IT SHOWS.)

    Hopefully they address these bugs in the next patch. As I am pretty upset that both of my orange weapons disappeared.    … Expand
  27. DameLCFC
    Jan 29, 2012
    5
    Without doubt, the official trailer to this game is astounding - THE best trailer ever produced.
    It also worked aswell as it made me part with £30 via Steam - even pre-ordered as I do like an occassional zombie-fest - I played the resident evil series since the beginning + silent hill + left 4 dead so I hope my opinion is valued in the genre.
    Review; Simply the worst of all    Without doubt, the official trailer to this game is astounding - THE best trailer ever produced.
    It also worked aswell as it made me part with £30 via Steam - even pre-ordered as I do like an occassional zombie-fest - I played the resident evil series since the beginning + silent hill + left 4 dead so I hope my opinion is valued in the genre.
    Review; Simply the worst of all the games mentioned above and I sooo wanted to like it. The graphics are better than average, controls simple enough, story is ok, its just gets very very boring very very quickly. Initial novelty wears off fast, the first part of the game adjacent to the beach is rather nice, the next level - the city, is not as appealing and then the sewer, less appealing. Its almost like the Dev's started to get bored half way through as well. I have not completed this game and doubt I will as its just not worth booting up. Shame it could have been much more with a little more commitment as it only does 60% well what it could have done at least 90%. Atmosphere is good, voice acting is shocking. Quests v v repetative. Although I do not hate this game, so far its the lowest scoring of all my reviews.    … Expand
  28. Mike_0x
    Nov 10, 2011
    5
    Extremely visceral mighty foot simulator. I was really looking forward to this game's release, however, it has shown to have several gameplay and graphical issues. There are times when you feel totally immersed in a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse, yet, with it's many and in some instances game breaking glitches serves to pull you right back out. All in all it's a decently mediocreExtremely visceral mighty foot simulator. I was really looking forward to this game's release, however, it has shown to have several gameplay and graphical issues. There are times when you feel totally immersed in a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse, yet, with it's many and in some instances game breaking glitches serves to pull you right back out. All in all it's a decently mediocre game, with mediocre gameplay. I just love killing zombies though.… Expand
  29. v00d00m4n
    Jan 5, 2012
    7
    Potential gem, flawed by some bad design decisions and rushed release of beta or even alpha version.
    This game was announced long before Left 4 Dead, it started as zombie mod for Call of Juarez 1, for almost 5 years it was in development Techland managed to release Call of Juarez 2 and 3 and started Chrome 2. I was waiting for it for a long time and was impressed by screenshots, promises    Potential gem, flawed by some bad design decisions and rushed release of beta or even alpha version.
    This game was announced long before Left 4 Dead, it started as zombie mod for Call of Juarez 1, for almost 5 years it was in development Techland managed to release Call of Juarez 2 and 3 and started Chrome 2. I was waiting for it for a long time and was impressed by screenshots, promises and dramatic trailer with music which reminded LOST tv series music a lot.
    When game was finally released i was dissapointed - instead of full open world steaming island it have zones with loading and some realy weird map, i still cant get how one zone alligned to another and where on island it should be, worst thing - even many in-doors done as seperate zones with annoying loading. Despite game looks pretty good and optimised pretty well - it lacking advanced gfx settings and have object pop-in issues, aslo some ugly things like VIGNETTE EFFECTS (red blood corners and general darkned corners and upper side of sreen) cant be turned off, most of NPC are copy-pasted and number of animations is pretty limited which makes them repetitive. And gameplay areas are pretty limited and you will have annoying "you are leaving gameplay area" messages and respawns in so many places which you could and should explore without problems. Also resort area dont have any weather or day-nigh cycle, while other areas have.Thats all about tech-gfx.
    As for gameplay - oh its troubled, this game is another victur of curse of checkpoint, but its worse case i saw this year. This is freaking open-world RPG, in games like this you need to save like every 5 minutes to keep your progress, but this game dont have quick or manual saves, only checkpoints, very little number of checkponts with very big number of bugs related to checkpoint, starting from broken quest progress, like dissapearing or repeating quests (i mean regular quests, not infinite), ending by the fact that text "checkpoint" doesnt mean that your progress since previous checkpoint was really saved. Lost of progress, inventory items, skills, upgrades etc is regular issue in this game, and the only way to save game is to get through scripte checkpoint of some story-quest or to get quest or finish it - despite you cant die in this game, it gets really repetitive and borring, when after your death and respawn all the zombies in cleaned area just gets respawned at same places and your weapons almost demaged, and you want to quit this game because it annoyed you too much for today, but you cant, because you need to finish quest to save progress and you dont want to lose hour or progress - at times like this i really want to trow gamepad in my display! Game really needs patch with proper savings and at least need to trigger checkpoints every 5 minutes and after every time you buy, mod, sell, upgrade ot openclose your inventory! Another big problem - respawn of everything, even cars that wrecked some bungalow. Game really fails in saving game world state and turns into endless Boringlands (Borderlands) style grind and looting. Co-op gameplay flawed too - all the cut scene designed with appearance of 4 different chars, but you can play alone or with 4 same charactes in team and this really seems annoying, why there are no 3 bots when you play alone like in l4d? Why not show other players as unique characters? Its realy weird when you have clones in team. When you play at different levels, most of weapons dropped of zombies belongs to higher level players and lower level players cant use it, only sell (again same problem as in Borderlands), also sync is pretty lame, flashlights of others players not visible, if some of players will initiate dialog with NPC and start quest, other players will miss this part of story etc. Also progress save in co-op is even more broken than in single.
    And the story itself, well - trailer cheated a lot of people, we are all expected dramatic hearbreaking expirience and a lot of LOST influence, while we have a lot of LOST influence in game (actually it in every corner, you will even have Oceanic airplain) it not very dramatic, it dull mostly, because most of npc stays in one place and just giving you orders, and most of cut-scenes dont have anything that can brake your heart, except for only very few scenes.
    And game doenst really have solid story and cut-scene kinda screwed and make no sence - especially intro, the guy in intro was not any of 4 characters, since he saw them all, but you start game exactly at place this guy have fallen asleep and i havent seen any point where all 4 characters meets together for the 1st time.
    And actually cut-scenes are pretty rare, most of times you will have borring NPC standing in front of you and telling what you need to do.
    This game have even more flaws that i described, however these flaws cant ruin game totally, generally its a good game which needs really good patch with a lot fo gameplay changes and bugfixes.    … Expand
  30. Victel
    Sep 14, 2011
    7
    The zombies and environments look great, melee combat is great. In other reviews I see some saying the graphics are bad, honestly, they're not bad at all, especially for an open-world game the models and textures are actually very well done. With that being said, I'm not ignoring the fact that the AI in this game is extemely terrible, with its bad story, quest design, poor in-gameThe zombies and environments look great, melee combat is great. In other reviews I see some saying the graphics are bad, honestly, they're not bad at all, especially for an open-world game the models and textures are actually very well done. With that being said, I'm not ignoring the fact that the AI in this game is extemely terrible, with its bad story, quest design, poor in-game cinematics, and slow-loading textures, the game actually has some redeeming qualities. I observed all of this in the singleplayer, I'm not reviewing anything I haven't experienced. I was also not impressed with how the game treats new players. As stated many times, we're stuck with crappy weapons for the beginning hours of the game without any idea how to work many of the inventory, item, and shop features before really experimenting with them. The game really lacks a polished feel. All the driveable trucks are all the same and they don't seem to ever break down. Unlike L4D zombies who can actually find and hurt you, these zombies are straight up dumb. Most of the time you have to find them because they wont hunt you down like real zombies should. All you have to do is close a door and you become safe.

    The trailer for the game really was a teaser, it barely displayed the real game. What I saw in that trailer was an emotional, scary experience with aggressive zombies that will actually hunt your family down and kill you. Sure, it was a fantastic display of phenominal Cg Design, but here in the real game I'm stuck with zombies too dumb to climb out of swimming pools that barely seem to care about eating you. Yeah, the zombies will eat you but they lack the motivation to.

    Honestly, this game is good entertainment simply because it looks good, has a good combat system, and I personally love killing zombies.    … Expand
  31. Spore
    Sep 29, 2011
    7
    It's pretty hard to give this game a fair review. It's incredibly addicting and slashing up zombies and collecting loot is fun. But it's also incredibly glitchy and the animations in coop are absolutely terrible. The textures and models all look pretty good though.
    So good things:
    I completed the campaign in about 3 days doing all the sidequests so there is plenty of content. There is also    It's pretty hard to give this game a fair review. It's incredibly addicting and slashing up zombies and collecting loot is fun. But it's also incredibly glitchy and the animations in coop are absolutely terrible. The textures and models all look pretty good though.
    So good things:
    I completed the campaign in about 3 days doing all the sidequests so there is plenty of content. There is also a new game+ feature where you can start over with all your items and skills.
    The weapons are varied and the crafting system is pretty neat. You can upgrade weapons with different types of add-ons to give them different properties. There are a good variety of add-ons but many of them do the same thing (just a bit better). Even the guns in the game are pretty satisfying to use.
    The cooperative feature is good, with drop in - drop out at any time. It even has a display showing when another player is nearby when you're playing solo and then it gives you the option to join their game.
    The gore is great, you can hack off limbs or bash in heads or break bones all the while blood splatters everywhere and your weapon gets soaked in it. If you want a splatterfest, go with the sharp weapon expert and hack away.

    Bad:
    It's very glitchy. I haven't come across anything gamebreaking but I've seen my share of unintentional bugs. For example some of the cars become invisible but people can still drive them. One of the attack moves wont activate if the zombie you're trying to do it on is hit by something else (which is frustrating).
    Invisible walls, this becomes most apparent in the 3rd act. You might feel like exploring but you can't stray off the road like you would expect from a sandbox game. You'll meet glitchy terrain, invisible walls, big holes you can't get out of easily, stretched textures and all that good stuff.
    The difficulty is pretty much non-existant as long as you pick the right class. Almost every single zombie you meet will fall over if you jumpkick them and kicking normally doesn't cost anything so they wont ever get up. All zombies have weaknesses to exploit but in the end, there isn't really anything challenging.

    What you have in the end is a fun, addicting game with a fair share of problems. The overall experience makes up for the big lack of polish. I would say this is definitely worth buying IF you have friends to play it with.Though I would only recommend this to fans of the genre.    … Expand
  32. phades
    Oct 30, 2011
    7
    Rather than rehash basic introduction for the game, i'll skip right into the meat and potatoes.
    First, the bad.
    Even after the patch in October, the game still has bugs and glitches within it. None of those that exist are show stopping. You will encounter some floating items here and there, some texture errors occasionally, an item falling into the world or erased via world clean up. Those    Rather than rehash basic introduction for the game, i'll skip right into the meat and potatoes.
    First, the bad.
    Even after the patch in October, the game still has bugs and glitches within it. None of those that exist are show stopping. You will encounter some floating items here and there, some texture errors occasionally, an item falling into the world or erased via world clean up. Those aren't really big deals though. The AI is mostly dumb, but the opponents are zombies and some human opponents, but even the humans aren't that smart. There are some hit registration errors involving the firearms as well, but for the most part it is not that big of a deal either.

    There are some items of game preference that can turn folks off. If you are offended by women in bathing suits who are rotting into zombies or trying to hide out somewhere, this game isn't for you. If you are offended if native peoples are exploited for whatever reason, this game isn't for you. If you are offended by implied sex or rape, this game is not for you. Hint: the game is rated mature for a reason...

    If you have issues with suspension of disbelief with items re-spawning, enemies re-spawning, players re-spawning or story continuity issues and some cut scene bugs; well you are probably an elitist and this game isn't for you. The game could use some tweaks in the item damage and modification arenas, but those are pretty minor issues at best.

    What the game does well are two things. First, the melee combat and location damage system are done pretty well. There are some continuity issues with striking limbs in the middle of an attack, but that is fairly minor (IE, an enemy can swing at you and then you swing towards where the limb would be and nothing connects or only you get hit as your character steps in while swinging). This would be a lack of parry and block mechanics found in other older games like Bushido Blade. The second thing the game does really well is the co-op game play allowing you to join on the fly or search for others with similar progress within the story line. The built in voice chat leaves something to be desired, with the lack of controls or push to talk. The digital controls for PC are the most responsive though, despite having the concept of free range motion using a game pad and the analog control set. However, the analog controls are not setup very intuitively and require full swings, rather than swings from a neutral stance to be performed. This causes over exaggerated movements to occur, despite the actual striking area to be rather limited.

    Unfortunately, the characters are not balanced well against each other or the world. This would be an issue of the game was harder. Although the designers could have labeled the characters with different difficulty levels implied while playing though. All but one character have many useless filler skills and the worst character forces you to allot points into some of them in order to get down into better skills. After the player attains the stomp skill, the game becomes ridiculously easy as it not only saves on the weapon durability, it also makes for quicker kills in most instances. The kick now uses stamina, which is a change from launch, but jump kicks do not seem to drain as much stamina anymore.

    Overall the game is fun and that is what is important. There are many things that could be fixed down the road, or done differently in the design phase which would make the game better. Hopefully there will be more developed titles following Dead Island's lead in the future.    … Expand
  33. Elsingo
    Nov 11, 2011
    5
    Nice open world game that is fun to play with friends but horrible to play with random ppl and boring to play solo. Imo way to bright enviorments for a zombie slasher.
  34. cunningmunki
    Nov 15, 2011
    7
    Much better than I'd expected, and far more enjoyable than the impression I got from the reviews. I was surprised that so little was written about the graphics, which in my opinion were easily as good as Farcry 2 or Crysis 2. I don't have the most powerful PC in the world, but even at medium settings the environments in Dead Island were probably it's strongest feature. That, and theMuch better than I'd expected, and far more enjoyable than the impression I got from the reviews. I was surprised that so little was written about the graphics, which in my opinion were easily as good as Farcry 2 or Crysis 2. I don't have the most powerful PC in the world, but even at medium settings the environments in Dead Island were probably it's strongest feature. That, and the perversely satisfying sounds you hear whilst beating zombies to death with a wrench.
    The main problem I had with the game was that I just didn't follow the plot at all. By the time it reached the finale (far too soon) I had no idea what the story was that led me there, or who these people were. Also, if you choose to play the story on your own, instead of enlisting random strangers, the cut-scenes contain all four characters, even though I was alone.
    The characters themselves were also a failing. Rather than having four distinct individuals (like say, Left4Dead) you just get two shallow alpha-males and their female equivalents. I'd like to have seen a couple of 'everyman' characters, like the father from the now infamous trailer. You know, normal people.    … Expand
  35. GameplayCrush
    Dec 12, 2011
    7
    This game is a 1st person RPG, very simmilair in gameplay as borderlands with the diffrence that recourses are very limited, like ammo and such, wich can cause you to be quite fragile some points, ofcourse its filled with zombies!!!
    Its a good fun game if you got a friend to play with.
  36. addie_ho
    Jun 17, 2012
    6
    This game is boring. They make it sooooo boring. I don't feel i'm having much fun playing it. Modifying weapons is interesting. Throwing expert is a very stupid class. I don't know why would they make a character stupid like that. It's just useless. There is a bug that our dropped weapon can go throw wall, and we would lose it forever.
  37. Killer_X
    Feb 10, 2013
    7
    I just finished Dead Island after putting in about 45 hours and that says something considering that I find the game very repetitive at times. There is barely any story in it and the missions are often tedious fetch quests.
    Having said that, the melee combat system in is game is probably the best. The weapons used in this game have weight and bashing the heads of the infected is very    I just finished Dead Island after putting in about 45 hours and that says something considering that I find the game very repetitive at times. There is barely any story in it and the missions are often tedious fetch quests.
    Having said that, the melee combat system in is game is probably the best. The weapons used in this game have weight and bashing the heads of the infected is very fun.
    The infected(zombies) are very well done with both walking and running types. Also a few boss types.
    The graphics in the game are beautiful on highest resolutions. I think the locations in the game are very well done and realistic.
    If you are into Survival Horror or love Zombie games, you really owe it to yourself to pick this game up.
    Like I said I do find that it gets repetitive but at the same time I had a lot of fun. Enough fun to want to finish the game. I give this game a solid 7.5. It does not get a higher score from me due to faults I mentioned earlier in this review.    … Expand
  38. jonnyohio
    Sep 7, 2011
    7
    First how anyone can review a title moments after it is released is beyond me. Did you idiots that gave it a low score even bother to try to play the game or read the forums to get help? There was a major problem with the initial download, and the devs are working on correcting that. That said, there ARE some bugs in the game, but isn't there bugs in all games on initial release? So myFirst how anyone can review a title moments after it is released is beyond me. Did you idiots that gave it a low score even bother to try to play the game or read the forums to get help? There was a major problem with the initial download, and the devs are working on correcting that. That said, there ARE some bugs in the game, but isn't there bugs in all games on initial release? So my review is about the single player experience (since my MP player wasn't working and I didn't care at the moment). This is review is about the game, not about me crying about how disappointing that a certain thing wasn't in the game that I expected. First I'll start with the pros: zombie head bashing. There is a lot of that. I love that. Open word: I can go where I want and kill zombies wherever I want. I like that. Plenty of weapons and health lying around. I like that, because I hate dying constantly. Good graphics (but nothing I haven't seen) I'm fine with that. Seems like there are plenty of missions (including side missions). I like that too! If I were to sum this up positively I'd have to say this is almost like fallout has met the zombie apocalypse with a pinch of left of 4 dead added for spice. So far I have been enjoying the single player experience and the game is very well made. There is a variety of zombies that get harder as you level up. I like the idea of being able to mod my weapons. Now for the cons. The money system is kind of odd, but it works for this game, because the devs give you plenty of it so you don't have to wait long to start modding your weapons and upgrading them. The voice acting at times is LOL funny. Some of missions are quite pointless and off the wall stuff (luck getting a grown woman her teddy bear because she can't sleep), but they add to the time you get to run around exploring and bashing in zombie heads. I've hit a few invisible walls along the way but was able to get around them. At release multilayer over the internet was pretty much unplayable (at the time of this review), but a patch has been promised so soon I will get to play along side friends. Overall this game is fun, entertaining, game play is well thought out and enjoyable. I've played for several hours and it looks like I've just barely scratched the surface. It is just uncalled for giving this game a 0 or 1 because they accidentally released a dev version of the game on launch day. Most of the people doing that are trolls that have not even played the game yet. My advice though is wait until a week after launch then buy it. All this mess will be sorted out by then and you will have fun playing this game.… Expand
  39. asmoron
    Sep 10, 2011
    7
    The idiot children here giving the game a negative rep bomb are all basing their ratings on the fact the game launched on PC with an incorrect version and a few bugs, ALL OF WHICH have been fixed and sorted out now. Do not take the word of a bunch of 13 year old crybabies with cheap computers that fail to run this game. If you like Borderlands-style gameplay, and really visceral goryThe idiot children here giving the game a negative rep bomb are all basing their ratings on the fact the game launched on PC with an incorrect version and a few bugs, ALL OF WHICH have been fixed and sorted out now. Do not take the word of a bunch of 13 year old crybabies with cheap computers that fail to run this game. If you like Borderlands-style gameplay, and really visceral gory zombie melee, and an incredibly rewarding game to play with friends this really can't be beat. Do not listen to all of these retards.… Expand
  40. Hoyste
    Sep 10, 2011
    5
    Bluntly put, Dead Island is a bad "melee version of borderlands". The PC version seems to be a straight console-port as well. You have minimal graphical options, bad FoV and the mouse sensitivity is laughable in the menus (though it works normally while ingame). Not to mention the weapon-selection is just horrible. The gameplay is quite similar to Borderlands or MMOs: you are given a taskBluntly put, Dead Island is a bad "melee version of borderlands". The PC version seems to be a straight console-port as well. You have minimal graphical options, bad FoV and the mouse sensitivity is laughable in the menus (though it works normally while ingame). Not to mention the weapon-selection is just horrible. The gameplay is quite similar to Borderlands or MMOs: you are given a task to run (usually far away) to retrieve something and then you run back for the reward. The combat is repetitive and boring, since there's hardly any variety on the monsters. The weapons break surprisingly fast also. You are supposed to handle vehicles as well, but the driving is even worse than borderlands. The camera angle is from inside the car, so you don't really see where you are going that well.… Expand
  41. DubFire
    Oct 25, 2011
    5
    The game has the potential, but sinks in its inconsistency, the interface problems and the feeling of being in an arcade.
    The problems with the mouse in the game and in menus, the problem with the assignment of weapons and drunkenness that attack us without notice.
    The downside of seeing this incredible game, we create a sense of realism rarely saw the world to have a zombie to roam. But    The game has the potential, but sinks in its inconsistency, the interface problems and the feeling of being in an arcade.
    The problems with the mouse in the game and in menus, the problem with the assignment of weapons and drunkenness that attack us without notice.
    The downside of seeing this incredible game, we create a sense of realism rarely saw the world to have a zombie to roam. But however this is thrown on the ground thanks to the damage system you use.
    If you have extracted many good ideas from other games, so it seems, one that certainly miss all those who are fans of hard and realism is the damage system. You can be as hard and tough as you want, but a shooting death forever. 1 headshoot 1 death ever forever.    … Expand
  42. InRainbows
    Sep 7, 2011
    6
    "Meh" pretty much sums up the quality of this game, which is unfortunate given how long we all waited for it. The island itself is beautiful: swaying trees, water moving about in realistic waves, and some incredible lighting. They really nailed the atmosphere here. The graphics aren't my complaint (although some of the indoor areas are particularly underwhelming).

    My biggest complaint    "Meh" pretty much sums up the quality of this game, which is unfortunate given how long we all waited for it. The island itself is beautiful: swaying trees, water moving about in realistic waves, and some incredible lighting. They really nailed the atmosphere here. The graphics aren't my complaint (although some of the indoor areas are particularly underwhelming).

    My biggest complaint with this game is that it's just very shallow. I find myself skipping all the cutscenes and conversations simply because the characters are so insipid and one dimensional. It's as if they designed the entire game and then thought to themselves the day before release, "wait, shouldn't we have a story?" And I get it: this game isn't about the story, it's about killing zombies, but the novelty of running around bashing heads of the undead wears off rather quickly when it's the only thing the game has to offer.

    The interface is tacky and unnecessary at times. The stamina bar is intrusive and appears in the bottom center of the screen every time you so much as sprint. The zombies have their own healthbars and, each time they're hit, you see "+7 XP, +25XP, etc." which really kills the atmosphere (but this can be disabled).

    Another complaint I have is that there's no day/night cycle, nor is there a weather cycle. Granted, certain parts of the game take place at different parts of the day with some variety in weather, but it seems like having a day/night cycle in an open-world RPG would be a given.

    I was also thoroughly unimpressed with the "multi-layer damage system". I simply haven't seen it. Little variety in the wounds zombies can obtain and, if you smash a zombie's head, it's smashed in the same exact pose every time. There are plenty of rewards for leveling up and the zombies level up with you in a Borderlands-esque fashion, which is nice. And the weapon customization system is quite useful, although the weapons break far too quickly.

    I'm crunched for time right now, but all-in-all, I ended up really disappointed with how this game turned out, but I'm excited to see the mods that the Dead Island community will create.    … Expand
  43. hcookie
    Sep 18, 2011
    7
    Dead Island suffers from a far too early release. The game 'looks' polished, but when you get down to business, there are a lot of details that are missing. As we all know, the devil is in the details. From missing animations, awkward movements, strange design decisions, strange design executions, design decisions which should have be shelved, some of the weirdest looking facialDead Island suffers from a far too early release. The game 'looks' polished, but when you get down to business, there are a lot of details that are missing. As we all know, the devil is in the details. From missing animations, awkward movements, strange design decisions, strange design executions, design decisions which should have be shelved, some of the weirdest looking facial animations, smooth animations in some areas, awkward animations in others, it is a proverbial list of things to do, but never done.

    The game plays like a very strong beta, so it's safe to say, the game was released at least 3 to 6 months too early.

    Dead Island is fun, if you can forgive the unpolished bits. The game is violent and the language foul, well suited for the teen and mature audience who are howling for gore. Definitely not one for the kiddies.

    The game shoots for realism, with it's body part damage system and the realistic graphics. But it all ends when you start realizing you're carrying 4 oars, 3 knives, a modified chain saw, pistol, 6 large batteries (from cars), glue, bits of scrap iron, etc. Which totally goes off tangent from the 'realistic' setting the game tries so very hard to portray.

    It's hard to put a finger on whats really wrong with Dead Island. It's a fun game, for sure, but the immersion is a strange mix of hit and miss, more miss to be honest.

    The only way I can describe the feeling when playing dead island is like putting a round peg into an oval shaped hole, 'almost fits', but not quite.    … Expand
  44. AK-47
    Sep 20, 2011
    5
    I really liked this game at first because of the somewhat orginal concept and graphics, but i soon realized how much this game is just like borderlands has that same very annoying system of leveling up that doesnt really entertain you because you constant encounter harder enemies and your weapons are less and effective so you buy new ones this game a a LOT of glitches too, i have lost aI really liked this game at first because of the somewhat orginal concept and graphics, but i soon realized how much this game is just like borderlands has that same very annoying system of leveling up that doesnt really entertain you because you constant encounter harder enemies and your weapons are less and effective so you buy new ones this game a a LOT of glitches too, i have lost a many of my powerful weapons because of a autosave glitch or i threw a knife and couldn't pick it up i even lost all my levels and weapons about of no where and was level one and unarmed all over again i got this game through a torrent it was fun but i would never pay for it… Expand
  45. BriTisH
    Nov 14, 2011
    5
    At first i hated it then it grew on me probably alot of fun on co op but sp is kinda boring go here get this bring it back over and over. You can just run past most zombies, But one you start upgrading your weapons it starts to get more interesting, that dies off quick as zombies don't pose no real threat they cant walk up a 45-50 degree slope and cant see you if you are far enuffAt first i hated it then it grew on me probably alot of fun on co op but sp is kinda boring go here get this bring it back over and over. You can just run past most zombies, But one you start upgrading your weapons it starts to get more interesting, that dies off quick as zombies don't pose no real threat they cant walk up a 45-50 degree slope and cant see you if you are far enuff away story on a island with zombies trying to get off soo meh don't matter to me pc performance 130fps looks ok but its old looking to with bloom… Expand
  46. Orctownorc
    Aug 24, 2013
    5
    This game reeks of mediocrity and CONSOLE PORT, not undead. From the first loading screens you know you are dealing with the kind of quality you would expect from a bad Playstation 2 title. That is what this game basically is. Terrible, low res environments and models. Terrible animations. Poor controls. Wierd control mapping (The F key opens things now? What's wrong with the E?) This gameThis game reeks of mediocrity and CONSOLE PORT, not undead. From the first loading screens you know you are dealing with the kind of quality you would expect from a bad Playstation 2 title. That is what this game basically is. Terrible, low res environments and models. Terrible animations. Poor controls. Wierd control mapping (The F key opens things now? What's wrong with the E?) This game also has a bad camera, with no zoom out or peripheral vision so it is extremely tedious constantly spinning about to see what is on your flanks, because the ambient sound is TERRIBLE, and there are no aural queues as to when zombies are nearby. The voice acting writing, level design and character leveling are all pretty poor. If a game is visually horrible and the controls are bad, how much fun can it be? NOT MUCH. Believe the 350+ negative or yellow scores and doubt the green ones! Vastly inferior to Left for Dead 1 and 2. AVOID. I got the GOTY version for $5. I paid too much for this

    THE GROT REVIEW CRITERIA: After a long time writing reviews like an anus, think its time to set a few bad habits straight: Stop insulting designers. Show some respect for the design process and getting games in circulation. Hence (1) No Red scores. (2) Game scores as follows: Bad Game 5/10. Poor Game 6/10. Mediocre Game: 7/10. Good Game 8/10. Great game 9/10. Stella Game 10/10. To get 10/10 it must be a game that can be (theoretically) play-able for 1000+ hours. Not only great but near endless fun. Games may be bad or poor but making them should earn respect. Thus even the worst POS will still be a 5/10. 0/10 no longer exists in my vocabulary. Yellow is the new red. For the sake of accountability: you can reply if needed: Orctowngrot: Tim Rawlins: timtimjp@yahoo.com    … Expand
  47. Diosys
    Sep 7, 2011
    6
    Launch Bugs aside, Dead Island is exactly what the title says. More like Dead Boring. Has great elements for an ORPG however, executed rather poorly with a wonky statistical weapon combat system and very simple designed enemies. Game barely challenges the player and most obstacles are products of a mistake made by the player, not good game design. Another graphical beauty with l poor gameLaunch Bugs aside, Dead Island is exactly what the title says. More like Dead Boring. Has great elements for an ORPG however, executed rather poorly with a wonky statistical weapon combat system and very simple designed enemies. Game barely challenges the player and most obstacles are products of a mistake made by the player, not good game design. Another graphical beauty with l poor game play execution. Also, horrible execution of the storyline.… Expand
  48. Necrotaur
    Sep 10, 2011
    6
    Dead Island is a decent game, though it could certainly do with some polishing and bug fixes. It's more or less a combination of Left for Dead and Borderlands with a heavy focus on melee combat. If you enjoy those types of games, or just zombie games in general, you might want to check this out. I will say this: the game seems to actively drive you away during the first act, with weakDead Island is a decent game, though it could certainly do with some polishing and bug fixes. It's more or less a combination of Left for Dead and Borderlands with a heavy focus on melee combat. If you enjoy those types of games, or just zombie games in general, you might want to check this out. I will say this: the game seems to actively drive you away during the first act, with weak weapons that break after a handful of swings and a lacking atmosphere. It picks up during the second act when you enter the city and are faced with fighting zombies in dark streets and alleyways while a storm hits, though it never quite becomes survival horror. The quest system is pretty bland, filled with fetch quests and 'kill/find my family who are probably zombies now' quests. Melee combat is fun and satisfying, and it can get pretty intense when you are facing a horde of fast moving zombies in a running battle and need to prioritize your targets.… Expand
  49. Nasher
    Sep 18, 2011
    7
    An original game, which is something we've been lacking for the past few years. It is not like Left 4 Dead so don't go in expecting that. It's more like Fallout 3 mixed with Farcry 2 (but without being **** like Farcry 2). The combat system is not like anything I've seen before and it works really well, most of the weapons are melee and guns/ammo are scarce (as they would be in thisAn original game, which is something we've been lacking for the past few years. It is not like Left 4 Dead so don't go in expecting that. It's more like Fallout 3 mixed with Farcry 2 (but without being **** like Farcry 2). The combat system is not like anything I've seen before and it works really well, most of the weapons are melee and guns/ammo are scarce (as they would be in this situation). Multiplayer is persistant and feels kinda like an MMO. If someone is in your area, you can join them if you wish, no loading screens or anything, your games will be instantly joined and it becomes co-op. I gave it a 7 because it's to buggy in places at the moment, performance bugs especially.… Expand
  50. Pmstz
    Jan 31, 2023
    7
    Very nice, fun and solid open world zombie game !
    recommanded.
    +++++++++++++
  51. moarx
    Sep 6, 2011
    6
    NOTE: The original build that was released was an internal development build and was accidentally uploaded to Steam as opposed to the finished version of the game. Deep Silver/Techland are currently in the process of distributing a patch on Steam that should update the game to it's actual release build.
  52. Starwaster
    Sep 10, 2011
    5
    Latest patches have made this game functional and I'm actually enjoying it. The combat dynamics are fun and Multiplayer is working fairly consistently now. Still crashes occasionally. All in all I'm bumping my review and rating of it up but for the price this game cost, it could have and should have been better. More use of ragdoll physics (try running over a zombie... they shouldn't keepLatest patches have made this game functional and I'm actually enjoying it. The combat dynamics are fun and Multiplayer is working fairly consistently now. Still crashes occasionally. All in all I'm bumping my review and rating of it up but for the price this game cost, it could have and should have been better. More use of ragdoll physics (try running over a zombie... they shouldn't keep their footing like that). Also, the world feels very static. Static spawn points that are easy to memorize for all the best XP earning spots. The simplest objects can stop a vehicle cold when they should be breaking. Gameplay and story line are too linear for an 'open world'. I'd rather have an open ended solution to my final victory or final defeat.… Expand
  53. duplicarius
    Sep 9, 2011
    7
    This game is absolutely fun! I dont understand why idiots can give it a "0" , but im gonna give it a 7. Sure it has a few bugs, sure the story, voice acting and character face animation are a bit bad, but running/driving around a deserted island full with zombies which you can cut to pieces while looking for supplies is more fun than i thought! I prefer single player to coop, but its OKThis game is absolutely fun! I dont understand why idiots can give it a "0" , but im gonna give it a 7. Sure it has a few bugs, sure the story, voice acting and character face animation are a bit bad, but running/driving around a deserted island full with zombies which you can cut to pieces while looking for supplies is more fun than i thought! I prefer single player to coop, but its OK too, kinda reminds me of L4D2, but single player is very fun. I was a bit dissapointed that there is no day/night cycle which i really like in games, but Techland is a smaller polish developer, give them some time and a chance for a sequel, it will be great.… Expand
  54. Bimbo1
    Sep 10, 2011
    5
    If you wanna buy a game to shoot in zombies, kill them and do some campaigns in a desert island. Dead Island isn't the game for you. Its more like a RPG than a FPS. you have a map full of quests warnings and quest tracers and even levels for your weapons. You don't have a lot of things to do, you always do the same things: following the tracer in your map, doing similar quests and killingIf you wanna buy a game to shoot in zombies, kill them and do some campaigns in a desert island. Dead Island isn't the game for you. Its more like a RPG than a FPS. you have a map full of quests warnings and quest tracers and even levels for your weapons. You don't have a lot of things to do, you always do the same things: following the tracer in your map, doing similar quests and killing zombies that appear not to have any special power. It might be cool at the beginning, but then, the game starts to get boring.
    It has good things too, like the great graphics, details and a very good engine. But it's not worthy for a 50,00$ game.
    I like to play more L4D2(20,00$) than Dead Island(50,00$). Because I like FPS games, and L4D2 is a very FPS game, different from the Dead Island, which appears to be a RPG.
    Well, I read some reviews and I disagree at a certain point: "Dead Island is an Open World". It's 'open', but if you do the game by discovering new things by yourself, you will probably fail. That's because you have to be lead by the quests to get experience, abilities and weapons. And so, it's an 'open' world, but its not recommended to do the game by your way.

    Warning: Don't be passive to biased reviews. Look at this from IGN: ". In the beginning, I'd slaughter every zombie I saw, but by the time I got to the city and found tight alleyways overrun with monsters, I began to just run from objective to objective. No longer was I playing a game -- I was focusing on survival as if I were the one running from Point A to Point B. ". Anyone who has played the game knows that if you start to run from the zombies and don't kill them, they will just amass and keep following you until your rush(temporary speed that you get pressing Shift) ends.    … Expand
  55. spydercanopus
    Sep 6, 2011
    5
    12am: Game launch with wrong build. 3am: I fix it and can play for hours 10am: I close and come back to an updated, completely broken game. Ran fine before, now it stutters and hangs and my save file is corrupted. I want my money back and to be compensated for my lost time. Class action lawsuits might be needed in this case.
  56. murut87
    Dec 24, 2011
    7
    Dead Island is a great game and a very strong Co-OP Game i played,graphics are good,but the story is kinda weak.And from what earlier release of dead island, just consider a bug-fest game.
  57. Gib_Lemon
    Oct 30, 2011
    7
    I can imagine a good way to describe this game. It's basically Borderlands and Left 4 Dead combined. This game has many good qualities to it: The combat is fun and satisfying, the mods on the weapons are entertaining to use, the story isn't bad, considering it's a zombie survival game, and the environments are beautiful (especially the forest). However, there are also many qualities ofI can imagine a good way to describe this game. It's basically Borderlands and Left 4 Dead combined. This game has many good qualities to it: The combat is fun and satisfying, the mods on the weapons are entertaining to use, the story isn't bad, considering it's a zombie survival game, and the environments are beautiful (especially the forest). However, there are also many qualities of this game that will weigh in on you as you play, such as how fast weapons are destroyed and how much of your money you will be spending repairing them rather than upgrading and modding them. Also, the inventory has some major flaws to it, as there were multiple moments when i equipped a Molotov and clicked "Exit Inventory" only to throw the Molotov at my friend because the game registered me as clicking M1 outside of the inventory screen. The length of the game was fairly short, and the characters are pretty boring. Despite these flaws, Dead Island's good outweighs the bad, for the most part, but I would wait a few months for the price to drop a little more. Go for Borderlands, or Left 4 Dead.… Expand
  58. awildseaking
    Sep 17, 2011
    6
    Dead Island looks decent enough, the melee is a nice break from the usual slough of gun games, but there are simply a few problems in the PC port. The frames are still choppy even at a high rate (I'm running it on max settings/resolution at 60-70 FPS). For whatever reason, player movement and environmental interaction just looks choppy. Also, putting QTE on the lmb/rmb is just an idioticDead Island looks decent enough, the melee is a nice break from the usual slough of gun games, but there are simply a few problems in the PC port. The frames are still choppy even at a high rate (I'm running it on max settings/resolution at 60-70 FPS). For whatever reason, player movement and environmental interaction just looks choppy. Also, putting QTE on the lmb/rmb is just an idiotic choice for a game, let alone the existence of QTE in itself. The inventory and control setup reveals very lazy choices towards the PC port. The lack of customization makes it even more annoying to deal with. Dead Island is a decent game, but like many titles of late, the PC version simply isn't up to par.… Expand
  59. ZootMan
    Feb 17, 2012
    5
    Ah, the open world. The biggest offense in the realm of creative interactive experiences. Dead Island is sign o' the times for this generation, combining rpg elements, fps perspective, zombies!!!! and backtracking. And I mean backtracking. Oh no, plase understand what you will be doing for 90% of this game. Running back and forth from one graphically undercooked area to another, lookingAh, the open world. The biggest offense in the realm of creative interactive experiences. Dead Island is sign o' the times for this generation, combining rpg elements, fps perspective, zombies!!!! and backtracking. And I mean backtracking. Oh no, plase understand what you will be doing for 90% of this game. Running back and forth from one graphically undercooked area to another, looking for the glowing minimap icon. For most competent narrative games, the characterization and dialog can be its own reward. I was even optimistic, considering how great Call of juarez: bound in blood was in '09. But the moment the first npc opened its horrbily mangled face-hole to to divulge some quest garbage, I distinctly remember hanging my head in shame. Shameful of the lack of care taken to this world...are we in a world of dead rising camp, or a gritty 28 days later tropical variant? Since the game is neither funny or scary, we are stuck in limbo. And limbo, as any good christian knows, sucks.............Now all of these mistakes could be forgiven if the actual combat was satisfying. And it is not. The first ten times you gouge, stab or slice a zombie, it feels like an 'f yeah!' kinda moment. But the game is built for babies. There is never any threat of death, the enemies are just too easy and it's just not scary. These guys need to play more left 4 dead and see how one can truly capture the feeling of being outnumbered...… Expand
  60. Puddinfellow
    May 31, 2012
    7
    I don't understand why everyone seems so butt-hurt about this game. Was I expecting something different? Yes. The storyline took itself way too seriously for what it was supposed to be and for what fans expected. I did enjoy most of act one and act 4, moderately enjoyed act 3 and absolutely despised act 2. But you know? I had a fairly good time playing through it, despite the glitches andI don't understand why everyone seems so butt-hurt about this game. Was I expecting something different? Yes. The storyline took itself way too seriously for what it was supposed to be and for what fans expected. I did enjoy most of act one and act 4, moderately enjoyed act 3 and absolutely despised act 2. But you know? I had a fairly good time playing through it, despite the glitches and many, many, many "fetch" quests. Don't compare this game to other games, that's not fair. This isn't a call of duty, nor is it a left for dead (though in some ways I wish it were!) But if you have 4 friends and time to kill, I would recommend this game for the price that I got it ($11). Expect anywhere from 20-30 hours of game-play in one play-through.… Expand
  61. Jodeth
    Apr 2, 2014
    6
    Not as exciting as the trailer led me to believe. I like the open world, melee combat and beautiful lighting and water, but those were not enough to keep me hooked for more than 2 hours. There's a lot of map glitches and AI bugs. The story isn't very interesting... I thank The Walking Dead for spoiling me there lol. There's a lot of object pop-in and frame-stuttering even tho my fps is aNot as exciting as the trailer led me to believe. I like the open world, melee combat and beautiful lighting and water, but those were not enough to keep me hooked for more than 2 hours. There's a lot of map glitches and AI bugs. The story isn't very interesting... I thank The Walking Dead for spoiling me there lol. There's a lot of object pop-in and frame-stuttering even tho my fps is a solid 60. The brightness adjust screen is misleading. Bad support for surround sound headsets. I tried to enjoy the game multiple times, but I can't after a short period of time. It had high potential. I won't ever play it again, but I'll forever remember how satisfying it was to smack a zombie in the face with a boat paddle.… Expand
  62. Duskspark
    Mar 25, 2013
    7
    "Dead Island" is one of those incredibly fun games you often return to, just for the heck of it and to kill time. Even though I couldn't care less about the people or the story, I had an incredibly fun time doing quests, crafting weapons and dismembering many different zombies! If you're a fan of the zombie shooter genre, it's one you should really give a go! If you're into real survival"Dead Island" is one of those incredibly fun games you often return to, just for the heck of it and to kill time. Even though I couldn't care less about the people or the story, I had an incredibly fun time doing quests, crafting weapons and dismembering many different zombies! If you're a fan of the zombie shooter genre, it's one you should really give a go! If you're into real survival games, not so much :T… Expand
  63. Llaerrick
    Sep 12, 2014
    6
    this was a good fun game especially with disciplined co-op play (playing with douchy-strangers on open mic can suck). it incorporates quite a few genres: zombie-survival fps (L4D-style) and ARPG loot/treasure hunting and crafting. the different characters/skill-sets make this game very viable for multiple playthroughs and the open-world concept with decent enough graphics make for athis was a good fun game especially with disciplined co-op play (playing with douchy-strangers on open mic can suck). it incorporates quite a few genres: zombie-survival fps (L4D-style) and ARPG loot/treasure hunting and crafting. the different characters/skill-sets make this game very viable for multiple playthroughs and the open-world concept with decent enough graphics make for a generally enjoyable experience.… Expand
  64. voiders
    Apr 26, 2013
    6
    Fair game, nothing better than that. The graphics are bad and the multiplayer system are a little weird. I play something like 10 hours and dont have so much will to return to play that game.
  65. Kvasi
    Mar 16, 2014
    6
    Read some review before I started playing that said it borrowed a lot from Fallout.
    Having played the game for a couple of days I can agree to some extent.
    The problem is that it doesn't improve on anything compared to Fallout. The open world, isn't that open. You get the "You are leaving the playable area" whenever you try to explore places. Your weapon needs repair all the time. Bugs    Read some review before I started playing that said it borrowed a lot from Fallout.
    Having played the game for a couple of days I can agree to some extent.
    The problem is that it doesn't improve on anything compared to Fallout.
    The open world, isn't that open. You get the "You are leaving the playable area" whenever you try to explore places. Your weapon needs repair all the time. Bugs and glitches even though I'm playing the final patch. Repetitive as hell. So far I've not encountered any enemy that's not a zombie, probably never will. Driving controls is probably the worst I've ever experienced.
    Still, there are some fun parts. The sunny beach environments is a nice alternative to most games gloomy caves.    … Expand
  66. crackingclub
    Aug 13, 2014
    6
    Dead island is one of those games made to play with someone else ideally with a mic. How ever played by yourself or without a mic and you will find a sub-standard experience. During my solo play through i spent around 14 hours completing the story and and a hefty amount of side content. The side content falls on the flat side as many are the same repeated fetch quest formula the "go overDead island is one of those games made to play with someone else ideally with a mic. How ever played by yourself or without a mic and you will find a sub-standard experience. During my solo play through i spent around 14 hours completing the story and and a hefty amount of side content. The side content falls on the flat side as many are the same repeated fetch quest formula the "go over the and bring it back". The story fails to deliver the previously promised emotional story from the fantastic trailer as the characters are far from deep. Also the four main characters could of been borught down to two as Logan and Purna abilities don't vary much and the same goes for the other two. Despite all these negatives there are some positives as i said before played with friends is the only way to play as it gives us a gaming experience that rivals borderlands. The skill tree is the rpg element of the game and is a welcome addition to the tired zombie formula and lets you power up different zones such as a special attack and strength. Also there are no shortages of things to do even if most of them get repetitive completion to 100% would take a hefty amount of time. Also there are no shortages of places to visit from a rough urban area filled with gangs and zombies to a jungle and more the island is huge

    To summarize dead island is a fun game meant to be played with friends but playable by yourself    … Expand
  67. PrincessRose
    Jul 9, 2015
    7
    As soon as I started playing this game I like it and don't want to stop playing.

    I like the combat, kicking an enemy down then hacking off it's head. I like exploring everything and finding loot. lovely scenery. like the open world. I like how shock weapons send Thugs into a epileptic shock dance, it makes me laugh every time. No matter how many times I play it, I don't    As soon as I started playing this game I like it and don't want to stop playing.

    I like the combat, kicking an enemy down then hacking off it's head.

    I like exploring everything and finding loot.

    lovely scenery.

    like the open world.

    I like how shock weapons send Thugs into a epileptic shock dance, it makes me laugh every time.

    No matter how many times I play it, I don't feel bored.

    Getting and crafting developer weapons is a must, just for the very useful proc when thrown. Makes it much easier to deal with hordes on your own, I like to use the mindblower on walkers, plaguebearer on the greater zombies as it causes them to be wracked with puking.

    Beach balls are deadly, I was kicking one around and it rebounded off a building and hit me, I ended up near death from a beachball. So be careful when kicking them around they are more deadly than a hit from a thug.

    Guns are pretty useless, only useful against enemy humans which there aren't a lot of.
    I enjoyed this game.    … Expand
  68. SiAScORCH
    Nov 4, 2014
    6
    This is a pretty fun game to play, but after you beat the game once it's seemingly pointless to play again. You can keep all your upgrades and such but it's just virtually the same thing over, which is expected but it was never all that fun from get go. I don't regret the time playing the game, or anything so I'm basically saying you should try the game, but don't set very high expectations.
  69. Izoeros
    May 29, 2022
    5
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  70. ave
    Dec 24, 2015
    5
    First I'd like to say that I love B and Z movies, and like to play games where I have to survive a zombie apocalypse (or any kind of apocalypse, like Fallout, Metro or Stalker).

    Dead Island seems to got it all, but many choices in the game ruined the experience for me in spite of its qualities. This game has major deal-breakers for me : - Zombies respawns (almost at the same    First I'd like to say that I love B and Z movies, and like to play games where I have to survive a zombie apocalypse (or any kind of apocalypse, like Fallout, Metro or Stalker).

    Dead Island seems to got it all, but many choices in the game ruined the experience for me in spite of its qualities.

    This game has major deal-breakers for me :

    - Zombies respawns (almost at the same place). Not only it kills the fantasy of globally reducing the threat and leaving some places safer, but it becomes annoying after a while to cut through them again (and again...). I know it's a fairly common choice in games with leveling and role-play, but I just don't like it. I don't feel rewarded by money and loot. The better reward for me would have been : a simple "gone forever" zombie.

    - Lack of direction in open world. Even with quest and flags, I found the navigation pretty confusing : I had to go back and forth between the quest page, the map page, and the radar icon just to figure out how far a mission goal was. Add to this the relative "openness" of the world and I got myself lost and confused too many times for my taste.

    - Getting no assistance from the survivors. Except the introduction, most of the times I do the dirty work for all the survivors. The story tells me I'm immune, but considering the fact zombies are respawning, some brave assistance in the field would have been appreciated. If you add on top of this the fact some "missions" are self-centered (like "bring me champagne" from the russian girl) you just want them to die of their stupidity right here for not contributing to the greater effort.

    Dead Island has also minor negatives aspects ;

    - The way weapons are assigned on slots and selected by the mouse during play are counter-intuitive. Many time I found myself struggling with a simple equip action, or abandoning weapons for a moment just to switch one in my hand with one in my bag-pack.

    - It takes a looong time before you can get firearms so you have to bash or slash your way through hundreds of zombies before you can start to choose between a close combat and a ranged weapon.

    - The weapons become useless after a while due to leveling up and that bothers me. It's nice to have to manage your durability or ammunition resources, but it quickly turns to busywork at the workshop and number comparison. It's very common in RPGs, Some people like this, I just don't.

    - The world is filled with luggages with mini loot. I don't find fun the fact of searching each one of these, but if I don't I might just run out of money to repair and upgrade a more efficient weapon.

    I'm really sad the game didn't work out for me, because I enjoyed the idea of playing it.    … Expand
  71. Arkan01d
    Nov 14, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The graphics are really nice. The way you finish off zombies is awesome for the first hour or two. For me, Dead Island was only playable when I had friends who I could quest with.

    There isn't a sense of danger or dread that you really should feel in a zombie game. It's more action and gore than surviving. That's what really ruined the game for me. With zombie games I really want to feel like every encounter could be my last. I want to feel a sick tingling in my stomach every time I open a door or walk into an open area. Had Dead Island been about Aliens then the action would have been welcomed and understood, but the idea of you can't get infected so you have to save the survivors is a weak plot choice and a worthless use of enemies that could have been something much more.

    Then there is the quests. A needless addition to this game. Why insert a mechanic into a game that hinders immersion and story? The quests are boring and will have you traversing the same places back and forth. Go here, get this and come back. Now go a bit further than the last time and get this and come back. Now go past the way you came and get this and come back. They've taken a mechanic that works great in MMO's and forced it into a pseudo-zombie action killathon.

    All that being said, this is still a decent game. If you have a few friends who are willing to whittle a weekend away then I think you will find a certain enjoyment here. If, however, you want a genuine game that forces you to constantly learn and adapt then try something else.    … Expand
  72. Viruzzz
    Jun 29, 2014
    5
    The game is fun for the first few hours, but the story gets very predictable very fast and progresses very slowly, the player characters aren't that interesting and the gameplay gets very stale very fast. There are a few effective ways to deal with zombies, and a lot of ineffective ways to do it, you end up doing the same for every situation.

    the graphics are pretty and the gameplay    The game is fun for the first few hours, but the story gets very predictable very fast and progresses very slowly, the player characters aren't that interesting and the gameplay gets very stale very fast. There are a few effective ways to deal with zombies, and a lot of ineffective ways to do it, you end up doing the same for every situation.

    the graphics are pretty and the gameplay flows pretty well if you look away from the repetition.

    Mediocre game, fun for a few hours, doesn't have much replay value.    … Expand
  73. MustisTheCat
    May 10, 2013
    6
    I played the fully patched GOTY edition and what a letdown it was! Technically okay. I accepted that it is essentially a zombie slasher game so I ignored that it has little to no guns. Honestly I hoped it would enrich the slasher aspect but I came out empty handed. There`s basicly no difference if you hit`em with a hammer, a combat knife or an axe. They fall on the 2nd or 3rd hit orI played the fully patched GOTY edition and what a letdown it was! Technically okay. I accepted that it is essentially a zombie slasher game so I ignored that it has little to no guns. Honestly I hoped it would enrich the slasher aspect but I came out empty handed. There`s basicly no difference if you hit`em with a hammer, a combat knife or an axe. They fall on the 2nd or 3rd hit or occasionally lose some limbs and that`s it. There`s nothing detailed about the bodies that the zombies are. Granted they moan and growl like they should but killing them gets boring quickly. Most of the quests and sidequests are generic but sightseeing on a beatifully made island resort compensates some of that. It is fun to go around on feet seeing how people got eaten, some got barricaded and wait for help. The story is also pretty generic but keeps a good pace right to the end. Not that the characters you meet are interesing 0 they are blend as it can be. Don`t mind the crafting table it is just there to repair your current items. Most of the stuff that may be bought there you find on your own. I did not like the minimap which didn`t make finding paths to quests any easier. The music is..well, just there. It is a 6 out of 10 for me (just above the "meh" grade), I tried to appreciate it but I didn`t. Other than that I`m not a zombie slashers` fan but I hear opinions from such fans that they liked the game very much. Hence, the game will be fun mostly to them and remain a new but boring concept to the rest.… Expand
  74. Wikki
    Nov 9, 2011
    7
    Platform: PC.
    Graphics (Details on highest): 9/10. Only notices some glitches in the form of clipping. Otherwise beautiful. Audio (5.1): 8/10. In the city, i found myself always tense because I of the zombies off somewhere else that I knew were going to destroy me.My only dislike it the slim audio track of the characters and the poor voice acting overall. The environmental audio pushes    Platform: PC.
    Graphics (Details on highest): 9/10. Only notices some glitches in the form of clipping. Otherwise beautiful. Audio (5.1): 8/10. In the city, i found myself always tense because I of the zombies off somewhere else that I knew were going to destroy me.My only dislike it the slim audio track of the characters and the poor voice acting overall. The environmental audio pushes this poor feature away, however.
    Controls/Navigation: 7/10. No real complaints. I did have to rebind a few keys to make it more my style, but that was easy enough. My only complaint about it is the game obviously being created for console gamers because of the menu navigation. I refuse to give more than a 7 to lazy developers who don't do a PC specific menu navigation and just give it the console version. Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 are good examples of what developers should be doing.
    Plot:5/10. Wow, I'm immune to and doing chores for people. Very exciting... Mediocre at best.
    Game play: 7/10. Good action in the game. I like the ability to hack off limbs, grab various weapons that i can use without any skill, and the ability to kick your opponent to stun is a nice feature different from other similar games. Game play was very repetitive.
    Overall: 7/10. If you like Zombies and repetition, get it. If not, avoid. I like zombies.    … Expand
  75. Banhammer0
    Oct 4, 2013
    6
    Just a short review:
    I played this one solo, I imagine it would be more fun with friends. The game feels very much like Borderlands, which is a good thing, it takes away from the immersion but in return improves the overall fun. Level designs are beautiful and creepy, you have a paradise tropical island turned into a hell on earth with the zombie infection. The gore level in this game is    Just a short review:
    I played this one solo, I imagine it would be more fun with friends. The game feels very much like Borderlands, which is a good thing, it takes away from the immersion but in return improves the overall fun. Level designs are beautiful and creepy, you have a paradise tropical island turned into a hell on earth with the zombie infection. The gore level in this game is one of the highest I have seen so far, if you like gore you will love it (I'm indifferent about it, but it really fits in Dead Island).
    During the game you level up and unlock skills very much like in Borderlands. You finish quests for NPC you met in-game, which often feel very stupid, for example bringing some guy 30 bottles of vodka, or bringing some girl a teddy bear she lost (this is an apocalypse, what's up with those people?). Those silly quests continue through the entire game, making it feel tedious and repetetive. The main plot is there, but it's just a background for all the combat you do. NPCs you meet also feel very lackluster, you will treat them only as quest-giving machines and nothing more. Devs tried hard to reproduce Borderlands feel in this, but they only partially succeeded, most dialogues are boring and full of crappy humor, not brilliant and funny like in Borderlands. I hate the main characters, I don't understand why each one of them has to be so unlikable...you have a black raper, a guy who acts like a total jerk and looks like a drug dealer, a hateful Australian chick who is just so full of venom you can't like her and a Japanese chick that's just meh but still unlikable.
    Overall this is a great game to gather with your friends (up to 3) and have some laughs, but solo it can be dull and boring. I'd give it a 6.5/10 but I can't because Metacritic won't let me.
    It's cheap enough to grab if you have friends to play with, otherwise avoid.    … Expand
  76. hotstuff
    Apr 4, 2013
    7
    Brilliant concept. Good story line. A lot of side quests. Only let down is the clanky feel of controls, especially when driving a car, 8 out of ten time you would find your self stuck because of a glitch. The graphics are not that good, but I'm not really bothered by it. One last thing is the co operative gameplay freezing issues. Towards the end of the game, My game froze 4 times.
  77. dumle
    Jul 26, 2012
    6
    Dead jsland is a game with satisfying melee combat, good visuals, interesting levels, plenty of side-quests and a large world that is sadly held back by bugs, repetitive gameplay and a lackluster story. Its is by no means bad but the game is just too repetitive since you will spend the majority of the game fighting zombies with a satisfying but limited melee-combat system.

    The game has    Dead jsland is a game with satisfying melee combat, good visuals, interesting levels, plenty of side-quests and a large world that is sadly held back by bugs, repetitive gameplay and a lackluster story. Its is by no means bad but the game is just too repetitive since you will spend the majority of the game fighting zombies with a satisfying but limited melee-combat system.

    The game has a 4-player cooperative mode though which is where the game really shines. And if you have a couple of pals ready to play with you you are probably going to have a good time playing through the 14 hourish main campaign of this game.    … Expand
  78. Ruegrong
    Apr 19, 2017
    5
    Repetitive back and forth missions for characters you do not care about. No server room option to join other players, you have to be similar level or similar spot in campaign and wait for their room to show up.. LAN doesn't work. The driving in this game is dumb, vehicles have little turning radius. Better off getting dying light
  79. Imsomniwight
    Jan 8, 2013
    6
    Dead island is a beautiful game but it has nothing special - nothing that would make me go back to it. From beginning to end - it's the same thing and the flaws are much more apparent than all the good things. The paradise island you are on is absolutely beautiful - but you can't appreciate it when the gameplay is boring, there are numerous bugs and stupid decisions - for example you areDead island is a beautiful game but it has nothing special - nothing that would make me go back to it. From beginning to end - it's the same thing and the flaws are much more apparent than all the good things. The paradise island you are on is absolutely beautiful - but you can't appreciate it when the gameplay is boring, there are numerous bugs and stupid decisions - for example you are located in a tropical holiday resort but the devs decide that you have to spend a large part of the game indoors - or even better...roaming around sewers. Guests can be found anywhere but they aren't to special either. "Bring me 10 of something" doesn't exactly make for riveting gameplay and even some of the more complicated guests are still boring. The game really doesn't make me feel anything. Just hit zombies with melee weapons or shoot them with guns...Nothing feels rewarding and nothing is really interesting.
    Anything is at best just decent and the rest is just boring or bad.    … Expand
  80. TheUnbeholden
    Apr 24, 2013
    6
    The game is a bit to arcadey for me, it is relatively easy to kill zombies which is plus but it relies mostly on "special" zombies for the difficulty, you rarely ever overrun and therefore you never really get scared.

    Honestly its all about upgrading, repairing weapons for whatever specialty your character is good at which depends on which of the 4 characters you've chosen. It's got    The game is a bit to arcadey for me, it is relatively easy to kill zombies which is plus but it relies mostly on "special" zombies for the difficulty, you rarely ever overrun and therefore you never really get scared.

    Honestly its all about upgrading, repairing weapons for whatever specialty your character is good at which depends on which of the 4 characters you've chosen. It's got alot of good locals but honestly once you reach the sewer its lasts forever, its the biggest sewer level of any game ever and that's disturbing that the creators thought of that as a good idea. Artificially lengthening if I ever saw it. The game is roughly 21-23 hours so it's not like it needed this.

    The creators of this game really did not spend enough time refining the mechanics, enemies glitch through walls and weapons disappear, enemies attack you through other enemies, you get scratched alot but never bitten. Because its easy to push a zombie off you...
    The cutscenes keep shoving all the characters in eventhough you're playing alone or with 1 friend. They could have edited the cutscenes by simply taking away some lines of dialogue and the character model and some of the camera angles...

    The ending is ridiculous.. he can fly away, hes planted bombs, hes just takin the piss now and risking his life unnecessarily by trying to shoot you and magically spawning fast zombies...

    +visceral combat
    +pretty long at ~22 hours
    +coop
    +upgrading weapons and attaching weaponmods

    -+Story isn't all that impressive but some OK parts
    -Not scary
    -Buggy and glitchy
    -Lazy cutscenes that keep shoving all the characters in
    -Worst Australian accents I've ever heard
    -You can't kill any quest giving humans
    -Terrible ending

    It's one of those games that implied greatness if you watched the CGI trailer, but on delivery its rather mediocre with only the only real effort put into it was for the most simplest gameplay mechanics.
    For most people thats good enough, for me I expected more.    … Expand
  81. Forest_Woods
    Sep 6, 2013
    5
    The story is boring and stupid, the gameplay is dull and repetitive. Zombies respawn so you can't completely clear the island (which would be a pretty good motivation to keep playing this game a little longer). There are no skills for which you would crave and look forward to gaining another level. Quests are uninventive but sometimes yield something quite good as a reward. Overall, theThe story is boring and stupid, the gameplay is dull and repetitive. Zombies respawn so you can't completely clear the island (which would be a pretty good motivation to keep playing this game a little longer). There are no skills for which you would crave and look forward to gaining another level. Quests are uninventive but sometimes yield something quite good as a reward. Overall, the game isn't worth any sighnificant amount of money or time to be spent on.… Expand
  82. MissFelixia
    Mar 13, 2013
    5
    i enjoy this game but what puts me off is the huge amounts of melee weapons and these seemingly imposible boss zombies. what this game needed was an option to make more guns drop. so you could choose blanced melee or balanced guns for 2 types of game play
  83. sticky-fingers
    Apr 3, 2013
    7
    7 comme son prix Noel sur steam.
    Une vraie ambiance de fin du monde se dégage de cet open world, que ce soit la musique, les décors.
    Les deux premiers chapitres sont vraiment très réussis, les deux suivants un peu moins bons. On regrettera aussi et surtout d'être le toutou des survivants et de devoir leur rendre service en permanence, écartant donc du coté RPG voulu une vraie liberté    7 comme son prix Noel sur steam.
    Une vraie ambiance de fin du monde se dégage de cet open world, que ce soit la musique, les décors.
    Les deux premiers chapitres sont vraiment très réussis, les deux suivants un peu moins bons.
    On regrettera aussi et surtout d'être le toutou des survivants et de devoir leur rendre service en permanence, écartant donc du coté RPG voulu une vraie liberté de choix.
    Dommage car avec ça, ce jeu aurait pu être légendaire.    … Expand
  84. Gapi
    Jun 29, 2013
    7
    Got the GOTY version for me and my friend. We really had a good time playing this in cooperative. I would have got bored if I played this game by myself: no funny chatting by the microphone, jokes, teamwork, etc

    The environments/zones that you play have a nice atmosphere and pretty graphics. Upgrades are simple. You have 3 upgrades trees but the abilities to upgrade sometimes get    Got the GOTY version for me and my friend. We really had a good time playing this in cooperative. I would have got bored if I played this game by myself: no funny chatting by the microphone, jokes, teamwork, etc

    The environments/zones that you play have a nice atmosphere and pretty graphics.

    Upgrades are simple. You have 3 upgrades trees but the abilities to upgrade sometimes get repetitive. You may have to upgrade some abilities you won't use/need to unlock the ones you need or consider important.

    If you are looking for a FPS this isn't the game you want to buy. There are just shotgun, pistol and rifle but limited ammo, as you can craft some. You can only carry a max of 50 pistol ammo, 60 rifle ammo and 20 shotgun ammo (with the exception of one character who can upgrade this). You use melee weapons almost all the time you play. They can be modded, with blueprints you find through the game, to do more damage.

    Poor pc port. I tried to use the keyboard but it was really uncomfortable. The key bindings were ridiculous, had to remap them. Menues were made for consoles. However, playing the game with a Xbox controller as I did the whole time was really comfortable, but again, It must be with a keyboard too.

    Really fun game to play with friends. If alone, you may not have the full Dead Island experience.    … Expand
  85. BizzyB
    Jun 18, 2013
    6
    There are some things that this game does pretty well. One of those things is the constantly uncomfortable and suspenseful atmosphere. Hearing a faint zombie groan can give you a mini panic attack as you frantically look around trying not to get blind-sided by a sprinting zombie.

    The game got progressively less entertaining as it went along for me, however. The game was great in the    There are some things that this game does pretty well. One of those things is the constantly uncomfortable and suspenseful atmosphere. Hearing a faint zombie groan can give you a mini panic attack as you frantically look around trying not to get blind-sided by a sprinting zombie.

    The game got progressively less entertaining as it went along for me, however. The game was great in the beginning because of the atmosphere that I mentioned and because it requires you to survive on scarce resources which makes it feel like you are struggling to survive. Once you start leveling up, however, the game quickly loses that feeling of what a real zombie survival situation would feel like as you gain a whole bunch of almost super-human abilities and weapons with special powers, and start facing zombies that are genetically mutated behemoths.

    To me, this is the kind of game that needs to be realistic to be entertaining. The appeal of a zombie game should be the survival aspect of it.    … Expand
  86. overfiend87
    Aug 7, 2013
    7
    I'd say this game is similar to boarderlands in the reguard that it is far more fun when you are playing with someone, but at the same time if you are interested in the survival story of a zombie apocolypse then this game will also be right up your path.

    The opening I love and the lyrics are stuck in my head, even though I don't like rap that much and when getting to the character    I'd say this game is similar to boarderlands in the reguard that it is far more fun when you are playing with someone, but at the same time if you are interested in the survival story of a zombie apocolypse then this game will also be right up your path.

    The opening I love and the lyrics are stuck in my head, even though I don't like rap that much and when getting to the character selection you get a detail on what their speciality is (american's skill is throwing, chinese woman's skill is sharp weapons, black guy's skill is bludgeoning weapons and black girl's skill is guns.) and you get to learn about their past and who they are as they narrate their backstory to you. It also gives you a option to stop yourself if you mis-clicked and you aren't stuck with a character you didn't want to play as.

    Weapons break after so many uses and different weapons are more resistant. Guns have no durability so won't break. So far I've attained mods and many other collectables over the island.    … Expand
  87. Notthatguy
    Sep 17, 2013
    7
    A fun zombie shooter, with a great weapon shooter, a console port so graphics are not great, but it does make up for that with hilarious weapon specials. 7/10, good entertainment value and re playability.
  88. Soplex
    Nov 3, 2013
    6
    This game is really only fun with friends. With someone there, the many bugs and glitches are pretty funny. But when playing alone, you find yourself muttering "the trailer promised something better..."
    The combat is bad. You see a zombie. You kick it in the leg and hit it with a baseball bat.
    The leveling system is pointless. Why level up if the enemies level up with you? But among the    This game is really only fun with friends. With someone there, the many bugs and glitches are pretty funny. But when playing alone, you find yourself muttering "the trailer promised something better..."
    The combat is bad. You see a zombie. You kick it in the leg and hit it with a baseball bat.
    The leveling system is pointless. Why level up if the enemies level up with you?
    But among the stupidity, if you just forget about the game's pricetag and what the trailer promised, Driving around is really fun.    … Expand
  89. MrAlcatraz
    Nov 18, 2013
    7
    This game is hard to review, I love it but I have to review it in a unbiased way, even though I have put 150 hours into it. You can play as four different characters, Sam B., Logan, Purna, or Xian. All play pretty much the same but with little changes in rage mode and the skill tree. They are each equipped with a back story and their own expertisim (Such as Purna is the gun expert). TheThis game is hard to review, I love it but I have to review it in a unbiased way, even though I have put 150 hours into it. You can play as four different characters, Sam B., Logan, Purna, or Xian. All play pretty much the same but with little changes in rage mode and the skill tree. They are each equipped with a back story and their own expertisim (Such as Purna is the gun expert). The story is very poor, you are on an island with zombies trying to get off. There is multiplayer, and it is fun. The graphics are very nice, and the lighting is well done. The combat is okay, with randomly generated weapons. These weapons can be fun to use, but you got to repair them.... With money? That is dumb; Guns are scares and so is ammo. The voice acting is okay, but nothing to praise. But the best part of this game? Is just killing stuff. Scratch the part were is said "The combat is okay" it is awesome! You can chop of individual limbs, throw weapons, go into a rage, shoot stuff, loot stuff. On the note of looting stuff that is the main thing of the game, looting. You can find items through out the game with RPG stats, which you can upgrade, and you use them or sell them to get better stuff. STUFF stuff stuff stuff. You can pick up miscellaneous items (That don't use inventory space) and use them to upgrade weapons, and to sell/use for quests. This game is okay and I can't say much more about it. But it is strange, I love this game!… Expand
  90. RosmaroMorsa
    Nov 28, 2013
    5
    Dead Island could have been a brilliant game, the gameplay is as smooth as you make it and the multiplayer is great if you have friends to play it with. The positive parts of the game are, unfortunately somewhat equal to the negative aspects. The adventure mechanic works well, with free roaming and having a level on the enemies, means you can grind up your level, or just kill for fun.
    The    Dead Island could have been a brilliant game, the gameplay is as smooth as you make it and the multiplayer is great if you have friends to play it with. The positive parts of the game are, unfortunately somewhat equal to the negative aspects. The adventure mechanic works well, with free roaming and having a level on the enemies, means you can grind up your level, or just kill for fun.
    The most unfortunate thing in the game is the story, it feels like the writers just took a day off or something, and never finished it. This really shows in the last few levels, and final boss fight.
    A big negative for me, being an Australian myself, was the truly appalling and i'd even say racist American mockery of the way we speak. American voice actors play all the Australian characters, and only speak in the stereotypical way people see us.
    Regardless, get this game cheap, if you want intense multiplayer but don't care about story.    … Expand
  91. szogyenyi
    Aug 20, 2016
    6
    I always had a really difficult "relationship" with Dead Island. I tried to start this game at least three times but i always gave up, because the whole game mechanics just... not well made. Now i have decided to give it another try, maybe i just gave up too earlier and i have to say, this game is still not impressed me. Of course it's fun to play, but it has a lot of issues. The biggestI always had a really difficult "relationship" with Dead Island. I tried to start this game at least three times but i always gave up, because the whole game mechanics just... not well made. Now i have decided to give it another try, maybe i just gave up too earlier and i have to say, this game is still not impressed me. Of course it's fun to play, but it has a lot of issues. The biggest of them is probably the moving mechanics. This dynamic movement is really a huge pain in the ass. Jumping across an object, making fast moves or just passing through in a tight place could be challenging and this annoyed me very much. The combat system is almost the same, especially when the system cannot decide who attacked first: you or the undead - which ends up the zombie is already on your neck and you just received a big heal loss. But there are other mayor bugs like such as when the inventory system just get totally broken, and you cannot even sell a god damn thing. The AI is so braindead, it's really not a big challenge to outsmart them. Most of the times when you jump to the top of a car you just receive a huge advantage, because they cannot reach you from the ground (unless if they somehow find a way to get up to you) Money is playing a pretty big role in the game, because for repairing or upgrading weapons you will need money, such as trading of course, but you can grind out as much money as you want, since the weapons are always respawning to their place. So basicly you just need time to collect loads of money, throwable weapons, bullets and XP to be overpowered as hell. It's not a big negative, you can do the same in a lot of game but come on. For a couple of hours it looked like this is a true survival horror game, but when i discovered this exploits i was like: "What the hell man!?". There are so many little things i could complain about, but there is no point of that, you have to play the game to understand what i am crying about. Aside from these the game offers a lot of stuff. It took me about 35 hours to complete it, with most of the side missions. You can upgrade your weapons and craft unique ones by finding blueprints, which turned out is kinda cool. I did not believe in this system first, but later i was really impressed how cool hand crafted weapons are. Banoi Island is huge and i have to say it is a pretty view, but hell... the Chrome Engine still look like **** It has some kind of plastic sense like the Glacier Engine based games (Kane & Lynch is a perfect example if you know what i mean) The blur effects are gave me cancer, but on the other side the whole game looks ok. BUT(!!!) the Ryder White DLC... oh my God... that's like a completely different game. So broken, so stupid, so annoying, i hate that, but i could not stop it at the half because i wanted to finish it once i started it. I don't recommend that. (haha, anyway you will got it since you cannot buy it separately on Steam)

    So: Is Dead Island a good game? No. Of course not. Dead Island is a really silly game, but it's enjoyable and offers a lot. I must admit i enjoyed it, but it has so many issues i am really thinking about to not buy Dying Light. I don't care how much people like it. Get your **** together Techland! Fix this engine or change it, i don't care, but come on... you are better than this! I know it!!!    … Expand
  92. Epik_Ninnja
    May 22, 2015
    7
    Dead Island is a semi-open world first-person post-apocolyptic action-RPG that centers around getting off the island you're stuck on and dispatching the undead in the process. As you chop ad shoot through countless zombies with many creative weapons that you can find or craft (such as a blade that shocks yor foes with each cut), you gain XP and level up. With your level ups, you can buyDead Island is a semi-open world first-person post-apocolyptic action-RPG that centers around getting off the island you're stuck on and dispatching the undead in the process. As you chop ad shoot through countless zombies with many creative weapons that you can find or craft (such as a blade that shocks yor foes with each cut), you gain XP and level up. With your level ups, you can buy different abilities. This game can be played with up to four players and contains a pretty decent number of side missions, among the possibility of exploration, although this never feels like a major part of the game. Chopping through zombies and other humans alike with ample blood and gore on display and crafting awesome weapons is a lot of fun but it doesn't quite earn an 8/20 because the story and characters are forgettable. Also, the gameplay could have been improved in a number of ways that I won't bother getting into. It's nothing truly remarkable but it's a fun gore fest with nice RPG elements.… Expand
  93. Shadow1
    May 15, 2016
    7
    Dead Island has got normal graphics and this game is funny , but has got very many blood . In this game are many zombies . Good game about zombie . One of the best game about zombies . Dead Island worse than Dying Light , but good too . Dead Island is very good on PC . 7/10
  94. AbeMC
    Jul 22, 2016
    6
    The best way I can sum up Dead Island is that it tries to catch the co-op flavor of games like Borderlands and bring it to a tropical paradise with weapon crafting. But fighting the same hordes over and over again in the hopes of getting that one special component for my ultra-rare weapon build wore out its welcome quickly. The game is much better in co-op, though, and it's still quiteThe best way I can sum up Dead Island is that it tries to catch the co-op flavor of games like Borderlands and bring it to a tropical paradise with weapon crafting. But fighting the same hordes over and over again in the hopes of getting that one special component for my ultra-rare weapon build wore out its welcome quickly. The game is much better in co-op, though, and it's still quite easy to join a match; just hope you don't land in a game populated with obnoxious teens more interested in showing off and hacking the game than playing the game.

    + The world is huge. Be glad there are vehicles and fast travel, because there are a lot of places to discover. It's not a true sandbox – it 's a number of large connected areas – but it will take a lot of dedication to complete the list of missions.
    + The graphics are decent and not too stressful. Expect high framerates even if you have a basic gaming rig like I do at the time of writing (A10-6800k + R7 260X).
    + Four different characters to play as, each with their own bonuses and skills. (I played as Purna most of the time because of her firearms bonuses).
    + Crafting is good, adds some unique effects to the weapons and increases damage.
    + The co-op element works well. Very easy to drop in / drop out of games. Leveling happens much faster, and I had no trouble finding other people to play with.
    + Decent characters, if you can ignore side missions and stay focused on them. Thematically Dead Island has a lot of mature elements. It's just cloaked in this B-movie zombies-on-a-tropical-island setting. Jin's story is touching.

    - / + Not really a positive or a negative, since your experience may be different, but the player-base I encountered while pugging coop matches was – immature would be a kind description. I encountered one youngster who asked me if I wanted to go join him in Minecraft. Another person was hacking the game, making everyone die repeatedly (it costs in-game money to respawn, so I didn't find it funny at all). And another player was constantly begging for attention: “Look! Hey, look! I can punch zombies! Look at the size of my fists! Did you see that? Hey, look!” If you have a group of friends you want to play with, you'll have a much better co-op experience than I did.

    - Despite the decent story and some good characters, there is very little time is spent with these characters; take time to do plenty of side-quests, and any sympathy built for any of them will have gone by the time we return to the main quests. Don't do the side quests, then; but the risk is going into an area under-leveled – and trust me, you are in for a frustrating time if that happens.
    - The combat gets boring after the first few hours. Guns only work well against human targets, not zombies. Melee weapons and throwables are for zombies. Run up to an enemy, hack their arms or legs off, dodge a few incoming blows, kick to stagger, kill, rinse, repeat. And enemies respawn REALLY fast, so get what you want from an area quickly, or you'll have to do it all over again. What a chore. By Act IV I just didn't feel like fighting anymore; fortunately you can just run by the enemies in the final levels (a few will chase you, but those can be dealt with easily).
    - Weapons decay FAST. Stay on the lookout for workbenches to repair your weapons (especially blade weapons), because they'll fall apart in your hands in the middle of a fight with a “weapon broken” message (you don't lose the weapon; it just sits in your inventory until you drop it or repair it).
    - Finding materials to craft is a pain. Even if you loot every single corpse or house that crosses your path, you'll frequently be short of materials. Much better to join a co-op game in the hope of finding someone to trade with.
    - The quests are repetitive. “Get 5 cans of food” “Find parts for the generator” “My friend / wife / husband / father / mother was infected, they had a memento / letter that I'd like to have back, can you help?” “Get 5 cans of food”
    - Maybe because the missions all feel the same after a while, I stopped caring. I rescue this one guy who is trapped in a bungalow with zombies beating on the door. Down the street is a gas station. I rescue him, he opens the door and says, “Thanks mate. You saved my life. But I really need gas for the generator. Think you can help me out?” And I'm thinking, “The gas station is literally right there. Get your own gas.” Main story missions are a bit better, but even those suffer from an over-use of escort missions.

    Dead Island makes a great first impression with its beautiful island paradise and aggressive zombies, but the copy-paste missions, same-y combat and rapid weapon decay left me feeling annoyed and ready to move on to something else.    … Expand
  95. czjohns
    May 29, 2016
    7
    Buggy, but fun! This is basically Borderlands with less humour, zombies, more realistic graphics and (mostly) melee combat. I played it solo, so there were definitely some boring moments, but I recommend this game.
    I'm interested in playing definitive edition and curious if it will receive higher or smaller score from me.
  96. Kiatzu
    Dec 6, 2019
    7
    Brutal and bloody zombie game. Some bugs can be frustrating or even game breaking which sucks. Otherwise it is what you expect from a zombie game. Fun gameplay, lots of weapons, lots of blood.
  97. Diegochocho
    Jul 3, 2018
    5
    La verdad no me pareció un juego tan divertido si lo jugas solo, pero si lo jugas con un amigo es para cagarte de risa, pero hasta ahí.
  98. Axilley
    Jul 22, 2021
    7
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good
  99. dlcatalin
    Jul 12, 2020
    7
    Very poorly optimized, i don't remember if i even finished the game, but i enjoyed it, the first 3-4 hours where amazing ,then it got a bit repetitive and boring. Guns are like nerf guns ... very little dmg even if aiming for the head.
  100. MatikTheSeventh
    Oct 11, 2020
    7
    While rough around the edges, it's still an enjoyable experience to play with friends.
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Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Best PC Game of 2011
16
#16 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
36
#36 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 19, 2011
    91
    Dead Island is maybe rough around the edges, has things that could have been better and has some strange solutions to gaming mechanics, but really, who cares? The main thing, close combat with zombies on an open environment, is both exceptionally well done and most importantly, great fun. Even alone. In the land of blindingly pretty, but simplified tubeshooters the ugly zombie game is the king. [Sept 2011]
  2. Computer Games Online RO
    Oct 17, 2011
    88
    Dead Island has plenty of reasons to be likeable: a satisfying duration, enough freedom and interactivity to create addiction and enough potential to become a classic. And although it isn't what the elitists would call a mandatory title, I think it's infectious enough for me to pull my friend's sleeve to buy the game too.
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  3. Thunderbolt
    Oct 9, 2011
    60
    It's the mission design that proves most disappointing. Its scale is highly ambitious but Dead Island's population of living dead aren't enough to compensate for its barren lack of variety and an increasingly tedious structure.
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